In the beginning...

Long, long ago, I started dreaming of being a veterinarian. When I was a child, I often talked about wanting to help animals in a significant way. I've always had a love for manatees, so, I grew into the idea that I would live in Florida and help large, aquatic animals that got injured from boats. Then, I came to realize that Florida was very far away from the ones I love here in Iowa and came back to the idea of being a veterinarian. A couple summers ago, I went to a vet camp at the Iowa State Fair where I learned all about the life of a veterinarian. It was very interesting but maybe that was just because I got to see a girl faint from looking at a diseased horse heart... Actually it was a really good experience. I got to take a lamb's temperature from its rear-end hole which i oddly didn't find too disgusting. Anyways, at the camp, I was also told how many years it took to become a veterinarian... Since I was the oldest kid in the group, I was given a whole lot of information on Iowa State University's vet program. It was very helpful and I really enjoyed the camp and continued to greatly consider the idea of becoming a vet one day. It later sunk in that it would take many more years of schooling than I was willing to pursue for this dream of mine. That is when I decided that maybe a veterinary technician was the way to go...

So what's this have to do with wanting to be a mathematician exactly? Don't worry, I'm getting there. My future dreams have a long story behind them.

So after I considered the idea of being a vet tech, I went to a job shadow for it at a All Pets Veterinary Clinic on Edgewood Road. On the way to the job shadow, I was considering what the outcome of the visit would do to my future goals. Would it scare me out of the job? Or would it show me how passionate I really was about my long thought-out childhood vision? Well, after watching a dog get its testicle cut out and two cats get declawed, I decided that vet tech wasn't the way to go either. I came to this conclusion from the simple fact that I almost passed out twice from the smell... And maybe the sight. The donuts in the waiting room sure were tasty though.

So, there I was back at square one again. What would I do next?