Where He leads me, I will follow

I considered pursuing many careers such as being a teacher, forensic scientist, wedding planner, marine biologist, and pastry chef just to name a few. But when I was 16 I knew God had called me to be a doctor. I realized the eight years of school after high school would go by very quickly, and I set my sights on medical school. As I entered my first year at Culver-Stockton College, my mom advised me to "keep my options open." She did not want me to decide what my specialty would be — cardiology, dermatology, oncology, etc. — until I was in medical school and was exposed to the different career choices in medicine. That was fine with me; I knew I wanted to be a doctor, and my goal was to get into medical school, any medical school!

In August of 2008, the beginning of my sophomore year of college, I came back to school refreshed and ready to get involved. I was approached the second day I was on campus to be on the executive board team for a new philanthropy project Culver-Stockton College would be participating in. The exec board advisor thought my energy and passion would be a great asset to the exec board. I jumped on the opportunity and was excited to learn about this new program on our campus, known nationwide on college campuses as "Up 'Til Dawn."

I quickly learned what "Up 'Til Dawn" was all about. It is a nationwide, college participating fundraiser for St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. St. Jude's is is a research hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, that denies no child health services because of race, religion, or financial status. Children with catastrophic illnesses are flown from all over the world to St. Jude's to receive treatment. Most of the families that come are not able to pay for the healthcare they receive; that is what "Up 'Til Dawn's" fundraising efforts are used for. It costs approximately $1.3 million a day to operate St. Jude's hospital. The hospital also has many research facilities around the United States, which work diligently to find cures and treatments to many terrible diseases and illnesses. Once a researcher at one of these facilities makes a major breakthrough, their research is shared with hospitals and medical facilities around the globe. Even if you personally do not know anyone who has been to St. Jude's for treatment, you probably know someone who has benefited from the research done by a scientist at St. Jude's.

We had an executive board meeting in September when we made our team goals. We set our goals high, a lot higher than St. Jude's ever thought we could reach. Being a school of 800, St. Jude's thought we would be very lucky to raise $10,000, but our executive board was determined to triple that amount. At our first fundraising event, we had over 500 students — over half of our campus — show up to help! We were on cloud nine! We worked hard for months trying to raise an impressive amount of money, and our St. Jude's rep said the money was flowing in, and we were doing a phenomenal job. We would not find out the total amount we raised until our end of the year party in March.

Throughout the year, we had families that had been to St. Jude's come and speak to our student body, and their stories were incredible. They had such determination and their children were strong fighters with an immense amount of hope. Each family was so thankful for St. Jude's and said the staff was so friendly and caring. They all had one thing in common: these families felt at home at St. Jude's.

Meeting all of these families and hearing their stories was very powerful. I could feel the strong faith and hope they had in God. God was not only helping the families get through their trying times, but was also guiding the doctors' and nurses' hands and filling them with the knowledge needed to help their children. I felt more than ever a need to help. I felt God calling me to pediatrics in one ear while my mom stated in the other ear to wait and see what other options there were. I realized then and there that pediatrics was my calling, and my mom quickly realized this too.

It was finally March, and we got to find out the total amount raised by Culver-Stockton for St. Jude's. We had been reminded of the poor economy and how many colleges were struggling to make a large amount of money for philanthropy groups like "Up 'Til Dawn." We had braced ourselves for a let down, but when it came time for the big reveal, we were astounded! Culver-Stockton College, a private, liberal arts college of 828 students, had raised over $41,000 for St. Jude's! We had surpassed our goal and were receiving national publicity from the executive board of St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. They were amazed by the amount of money we raised and put our college up for several nationwide awards.

Our first year of "Up 'Til Dawn" was a huge success, and I am on the executive board again next year. We are very excited for the challenge we will be facing as an executive board, to surpass the $41,000 we raised last year, but I know with God on our side, all things are possible. I am also more excited than ever to know that being a doctor is not just a career I am pursuing but a calling from God that I am following.