The Core Values I Got from Living in Brooklyn, New York

When I was four years old my immediate family and I migrated to Brooklyn, New York from Nigeria. Growing up I remember my mom always saying that Brooklyn is not an easy place to raise children, especially six at one time. Reflecting back I can now understand why she said so. The city's crime rate is high, the streets are sometimes filthy and one has to become accustom to the loud traffic while sleeping. Even with all of its flaws I have grown to love Brooklyn.

When I left to attend college in Buffalo, I came to finally appreciate the aspects that made Brooklyn unique; Brooklyn is ethnically diverse with immigrants from all over the world. What I also value most about Brooklyn is the opportunities available for those who choose to take advantage of them. For example, during my senior year of high school, I became a Sisters in Strength (SIS) Intern in the Girls for Gender Equity (GGE) non-profit organization.

Before the internship I had no strong feelings towards gender inequity because I did not understand it. GGE is committed to the emotional, psychological, physical and economic empowerment of girls and women. The goal of the SIS internship within GGE is to combat sexual harassment and sex-based violence in New York City public middle school through community organizing, research, and education. Out of the 10 hours a week that I worked, I spent a portion of that time being trained by the director, counselors and affiliates that help run the organization.

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Another portion of my time was spent attending events, holding presentations, surveying students who have had experience with sexual harassment, and doing outreach community work. The last portion of my time was spent facilitating workshops and mentoring students in an afterschool program in a local public high school. The internship exposed me to the cultural and socioeconomic mechanism underlying gender-based violence. I learned a lot about Brooklyn and the internship helped me feel more tied to city as a community.

As a child I never really felt like I belonged in Brooklyn. Coming from another country and being teased about my language, culture and mannerisms often alienated me in school. We spoke Igbo, one of the many Nigerian languages, ate traditional Nigerian food, and my parents still held on to their traditional customs and values. They raised me by these same principles. However, as time went on, I was able to break down barriers and reach out to my peers so that they can understand my difference and become comfortable with me. I took a hard experience and I was able to learn and grow stronger from it without losing my core values.

From living in my home, I came to value the importance of tradition and family but from my community I came to value commitment and diversity. The values of tradition and family has enabled me to look at life from another prospective which is important for self-actualization and analyzing different situations. I came to value commitment through the intensive SIS internship. I am more mindful of gender inequality and I will therefore live my life committed to mentoring and opening doors for young women.

From living in Brooklyn I came to value diversity in every sense of the word. I like to interact with people of different origins and culture but I also like to interact with people that have different interests, goals, and insights. I have many interests and therefore cannot say what I will specifically be involved in but I will definitely gravitate to those activities and achievements that coincide with my core values.

My most humbling experience has been taking care of disabled campers in the Muscular Dystrophy Association Summer Camp in Rush, NY. Although it was only a week long, I had to subject myself to the needs of others for a majority of my day. Throughout the experience it was my responsibility to listen and watch my camper carefully. Making sure that she has assistance doing such things as climbing steps, putting on her shoes, and getting her food.

The experience made me appreciate my own limbs and it made me aware of the everyday struggles that children and adults who live with muscular dystrophy have to face. Furthermore, as a medical professional I will have to put the needs of my patients before my own which is a similar type of pre-disposition I was in during camp. In order to effectively and appropriately interact with my peers and patients I will have to put myself in their shoes in order to work with them.

A challenge that I faced during the past five years is to overcome my fear of rodents. I still remember the anxiety and stress that I felt during my freshmen year when I had to obtain the appropriate mouse out of the cage. By my sophomore year I was able to retrieve a mouse by myself. However, handling the mice, especially around the neck region, was still an obstacle that I avoided and often sought help with. Through my undergraduate career, my fear never affected conductance of my experiments because I used technical equipment and student assistance to circumvent direct handling of mice. However, during graduate school I was required to genotype and care for my own mice thus I had to fully confront my fear and I conquered it.

In the beginning of my experience with mice, I often was upset at myself for not being able to conquer my phobia of rodents because I felt dependent on others in order to perform my experiments. I like to also work independently. Additionally, I enjoyed the work and surgeries that I performed and I do not want to forgo opportunities to do such experiments again because of a phobia. When I finally did overcome my fear, it was a personal achievement for me and I felt as if I was able to conquer my subconscious and truly control my body. It was a liberating and transformative feeling. Such persistence and self-control is necessary for success as a medical professional. Additionally these qualities will help me encourage my peers to challenge themselves, and figure out ways to do things that make them uncomfortable, so that they can also learn and grow.

The toughest feedback that I have received is that I spread myself too thin and take on more than I can handle. I started receiving this feedback during my undergraduate academic career. To be honest, as a 19 year old student, I was a little defensive about it at first. I felt as if I was doing everything required of me. I knew how hard it was to get into medical school and was continuously being fed exaggerations about how only "perfect" applicants should apply to medical school. As early as my freshman year in college, although I engaged in activities that interested me, I sought to also be a competitive applicant.

However, I ended up sacrificing success in my academic coursework for success in my activities and experiences. The silver lining is that being involved in research, the UB community and in pre-med activities was my pipe line towards medicine. If I was not so involved I might not be where I am today nor who I am today. In some ways not prioritizing and having had poor time management skills during my undergraduate career set me back in terms of academic course achievement. However, it gave me a leg up in terms of learning and understanding science through undergrad and graduate school.

Although it took me a few years, I have learned my lesson and I am no longer in denial nor do I have regrets. Everything that I have done, no matter how long it took has prepared me for medical school. I am stronger, wiser, and smarter after my experiences. I understand where I went wrong and where I should have listened to others but most importantly when I should have listened to my needs. One of the lesson that I learned is that everyone will give you advice during your academic career and you should listen to all of them. Then you should sit down and elevate your own needs and see which advice best fits with your present abilities, interests, and goals.

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