Plenary #3
As a STEM major, it was very interesting listening to Bonnie Ridgely’s speech and learning what she went through to get to where she was in life. What really hit me was when she mentioned about a couple of mistakes that she made and her father would ask her, “Was anybody hurt and can you keep doing what you were doing?” Whenever she had yes, her father would say, “then keep doing what you were doing.”
This hit me so much because it reminded me of all of the times I was struggling in some my classes since freshman year and last semester I did have an ongoing debate concerning whether or not I still wanted to be a doctor. There were times when I was sad, but then I thought to myself, “Is there anything else I want to do? Am I able to keep doing what I’m doing?” To this day, I will never regret saying no to the first question and yes to the second. Especially since I finally found my footing last semester as well.
Another thing I learned from her is that its important to be confident. Even though a person does not know something, she has to act like she knows. In that way, you will gain respect and people will hear you out. After this semester, I totally agree. I work at a hospital for my internship at the Cardiac Rehab ICU, and in the beginning, I did not any clinical experience but as I was learning from my friends, I still made sure and I did not mess up in front of patients because as time went on, even though I am only a college student they still looked up for me for comfort and support and being confident about my work helped with that.