Cassidy was a clinical registered dietitian. Then she became AAPA's 2022 PA Student of the Year.

Her dietitian background wasn't a detour. It was direct patient care, in a hospital, with real clinical responsibility - exactly the kind of experience that makes an applicant credible. She graduated from Missouri State and clearly made the most of it.

What I want you to take from this one is how deliberately she picked her schools. Not by ranking. By program size, tuition, and how much support students actually get. Those three things shape your next two years far more than a name does.

She was also proactive about landing her first PA job. She networked during rotations instead of waiting for postings to appear after graduation. That's how most good first jobs happen.

What we cover:

• Working as a clinical dietitian and using it as patient care experience
• Choosing programs by size, cost, and student support
• What being PA Student of the Year involved
• Getting the most out of PA school beyond grades
• Networking during rotations to find your first job
• Advice for anyone coming from another healthcare field

Resources:

PA Program Map: https://www.thepaplatform.com/pa-platform-map

Free Resume Download: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-resume-download

Free PA School Application Timeline: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-application-timeline

Pre-PA Counseling: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pre-pa-counseling

Mentioned in this episode:

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Let's talk about non traditional routes to the PA profession.

Today we have Cassidy, who is a PA now but started as a dietitian and she has an amazing story and her time in PA school was really cool.

Welcome to the Pre PA Club Podcast.

If you want to learn how to become a physician assistant, you're in the right place.

I'm your host, Savannah Perry.

Let's get to it.

All right, we know this is an exciting time of year for all the sales and Black Friday is next week and Roche Review has some great offers for you.

I can't share all the specifics yet, but you'll want to make sure that you're signed up for those.

And the Pants Pannery Review course is also coming up.

The December course will be the fourth through the seventh.

Make sure that if that's something you're interested, you sign up.

These dates are filling up because this is when more people are graduating and getting ready to take pants.

So if you need that one on one help, it's four days with 30 hours of live content with two instructors.

You're going to get coverage of every aspect and topic that you need to know for boards.

Lots of handouts, lots of practice questions, and this is a great way to make sure you're ready on test day.

So head to rochreview.com and we'll put all the links in the descriptions as well.

What is up you guys?

Welcome to the Pre PA Club Podcast.

Here's your host.

That's Nicole me, Savannah Perry.

I am a dermatology PA in Georgia and the creator of the PA platform and very, very happy to have you here listening to the podcast.

And this is an interview we recorded a few months ago that you'll get to hear from today with Cassidy.

I'll tell you a little bit about her in just a minute, but we have a lot of cool stuff coming up with the PA platform and I wanted to fill you in.

So if you're not on our newsletter list, our email list, you may want to join.

If you go to the PA platform.com newsletter, you can sign up there and you will find out about our Black Friday deals and Cyber Monday deals that will go live next week.

We are very excited about these because this is the lowest prices on anything all year that we do and kind of our opportunity to give you as far as like being able to prepare and get help with what you need at the best price.

So mock interviews, personal statements will be $100 each.

You're hearing it here first.

I haven't shared this anywhere else yet.

We will have our interview course half off the books will be on Amazon.

I'm seeing if I can get those discounted.

The pre PA workbook, PA School Interview guide, PA School Personal statement guide.

And then we have something new coming that I have not shared yet.

And it's going to be kind of like a group coaching session situation that will happen from February to October.

It's called Prepa Academy.

And we'll be going through the whole application process together.

We'll have live sessions weekly.

There'll be three to four sessions a week with myself and the other PA platform coaches where we're doing talking with each other and kind of a almost support group kind of situation where you can ask questions, Q and A office hours, some teaching sessions on specific topics, personal statements, resumes, interviews, everything really.

And then also live editing live mock interviews where you can get help on specific stuff.

So with that comes with the books, it comes with all kinds of stuff, the courses and there will be more information about that in next week's episode and going out to the email list so make sure you're on there to be the first to sign up so you get some of the bonuses and goodies that we have with that for next week.

But yeah, lots of fun stuff.

But in today's episode we're hearing from Cassidy.

So Cassidy graduated this past spring and works in GI and before PA school, Cassidy was a clinical registered dietitian.

That's where she found out about the.

PA profession and then decided to go to PA school.

So she went to Missouri State University and volunteered.

And she was also a big part of the PAEA student as a student member at large.

Like she's a big deal and she was awesome, really great to talk to, really great advice.

She talked about just volunteering and getting involved and what that can look like before school once you're in school and then afterwards as well.

So I really think that you will appreciate hearing from her experience.

So we'll jump in to that interview and all the information, everything you need to know is in the description.

If you have any questions, let us know.

You can find us on Instagra, tick tock YouTube at the PA platform and we're always happy to help you out.

Tell us a little bit about you and your background and kind of how you've ended up here.

Okay.

Perfect.

So I ended up here because I was a dietitian.

So I wore many hats as a dietitian.

I usually worked outpatient.

At first it was very general, and then eventually in dialysis.

But when I was still very general, I saw patients with high blood pressure, with GI disorders, with diabetes, with basically anything anybody referred for.

And I was sharing a patient with a physician assistant.

And I loosely knew what PAs were.

Someone had described it to me before very poorly, but so I know, I know, I was like, it could have done this path years earlier if that person explained it correctly.

But I was co managing a diabetic patient with a PA and I was like, you can prescribe medicine, you can see this patient for other follow ups in clinic.

And I just got to looking up the profession really different than the first way it was described to me and I just fell in love.

And I really, you know, I really contemplated if this was for me only because I felt so comfortable in my career as a dietitian.

Yeah.

But the ability to follow up with patients long term, to have that, that role on the care team, to be able to have the lateral mobility, you know, the buzzword that, that people talk about for the PA profession was something that I was really interested in.

I went for it and that's how I got here today.

Well, that's.

Yeah.

This is interesting.

They still say that a lot of people don't find out about the PA profession until after finishing their degrees or very end.

So that's interesting that you I guess kind of like had heard of it but didn't really know what it was until you had an encounter.

And you know, I guess I'm like so immersed in this PA world.

It's so funny to me that people just like don't know or understand what PAs are.

And it has become less.

I've been a PA now for nine years and like at the beginning I was definitely explaining it more to patients like yes, I can prescribe medicine and yes, I can do these things and yes, I can biopsy and whatever.

And so now it is, it is a lot less that that, but it still does.

I mean it's still.

I'll encounter somebody who has just never seen a PA or like you, They've like heard of it.

Yeah, I had somebody recently who had moved here from California and I was seeing that like basically needed a biopsy, had a spot and came in and I was doing it.

And they were so funny because they're like, okay, we've like kind of heard about what this is.

But like, we didn't know if you'd be able to do this, but they were.

This was the first appointment we could get and we just like, really felt like it needed to be seen.

And, you know, this has been great.

Like, you were able to help us out.

I was like, yeah, no, totally.

I was a military brat.

So like, my whole life I saw PAs on base.

PAs are a huge part, a huge part of the active duty military hospitals.

And I never really asked, you know, I just saw the PA and the first time I asked what a PA was, the person was like, well, it's like a, a doctor, but you can have time to, to raise kids.

Like, you could work part time if you want to.

And at the time I was a college student, I was like, not me.

Next.

And I mean, there's a huge benefit that you can have fle, but that alone was what I was told.

So I was like, next.

Right.

Like, that's so much more to the profession than that.

There's so much more.

Yeah.

And like, in my mind, you can have flexibility in any profession.

Like, that's a choice you make and something that you prioritize no matter what you do.

So I kind of don't like that.

Cop out.

I know somebody would have explained it differently.

I would have applied.

Yeah.

Well, hey, you have a, you have a great background.

Yeah.

Can you tell us?

So just so people know, like, what is the path to becoming a dietitian?

Like, and then how did that set you up to move on to becoming a pa?

Okay, cool.

So becoming a dietitian is.

I'm super happy you asked.

It's way harder than most people think.

A lot of people are like, oh, you guys like nutrition and just talk about it all the time.

A lot of dietitians do, but so we.

So basically now all the programs are master's degree programs.

But it's even harder than just going into a master's degree.

So you do your four years of undergrad at an accredited school through the Academy of Nutrition.

So there's nutrition majors who are that are not accredited through the Academy of Nutrition.

It has to be one of those programs.

Yeah.

It has to be evidence based nutrition.

There has to be all these guidelines.

Then after that, we have a match system.

So you, you rank all the schools you want to go to for your dietetic internship, which is like our residency.

And then usually the masters is included in that now.

Okay, so you rank the schools that you want to go to, and then they rank you and one day we all get a match at the same time and you either get zero matches or one matches or one match.

So about 50 of people don't match.

Wow.

There's a huge amount of future dietitian hopefuls that don't match.

Is that just because it's competitive or they aren't qualified?

But that has to be partly in management, partly in food service, and then partly in clinical nutrition in the hospital.

So you can live in a community and not really have dietitians in management that you would be able to do your hours with, or you don't have dietitians that work in food service that you could do your hours with.

So it's hugely limited on the population and in your surrounding areas.

And then after that, we take a national exam, the RD exam.

I believe the pass rate is 80%.

Oh, wow.

So it's pretty low as far as national exams go.

Yeah.

That people pass on the first time is 80%.

And I believe that changes slightly year to year, just like the pants, but.

And then after that, we have 75 continuing education hours every five years.

So as far as applying for PA school, it was hugely helpful because I was able to say I've done a master's degree before.

I have, you know, been part of a competitive program before.

I've taken a national exam before.

I kept up on my CEUs.

Like, I promise I'm going to keep up on what I need to, to stay in the profession.

So I was able to highlight going into school, I will say my master's in nutrition and a master's in physician assistant studies are a completely different beast.

I was a little overconfident, I think, that.

That I had a master's degree already.

My first master's degree was like 33 credits.

I think a huge chunk of those were the internship.

I used to feel like I was so stressed, and you don't know what stress is until PA school and you're drinking through the fire hose and you're, you know, sitting in anatomy lab at 9pm trying to study for your test tomorrow.

But there were so many aspects of being a dietitian that did kind of transition over to school.

Obviously.

I loved, like, the Clin Med exams on endocrinology, GI nephrology, half of family practice, like the hypertension management and things like that.

Were.

Were very familiar.

But then there's a lot of things I just never had any experience with.

Neurology, pulmonology.

Yeah.

And that's how everyone going in, like no one is ever fully prepared.

And it's hard to explain that to people too if you have already done a master's.

Yeah.

It's just.

It's a different beast.

Yeah, it's.

It's just a lot.

Very quickly.

Yeah.

With high expectations.

Yeah.

Did you have to.

So clearly you had great patient care experience like that was not an issue.

Did you have to take classes or go back and kind of.

Yes, anything.

So I had to retake anatomy and physiology.

Now it has changed.

But when I was in school, dietitians only had to take anatomy, I believe I hadn't taken physiology ever.

And I'd never taken the amount of.

The amount of credits that I needed.

And it was getting to where it's like the, the anatomy class I had taken I think was like six years old because I worked as a dietitian for three and a half years before I applied.

And then I had to take genetics, so I only had to take three classes total.

Not bad.

Yeah, no, it really wasn't.

I was able to get it done within a year.

Taking one class a semester at after work at night.

Yeah.

And that's what I mean.

Like you have to like fit it in wherever you can.

Exactly.

And yeah.

So then, you know, you kind of had this goal.

Had to get a couple classes when it was time to apply or look for schools.

Like what were your criteria?

What were you looking for?

Did you apply, you know, broadly or try to stay, you know, with a few schools?

What were, what was your process like?

So I picked out the schools that I wanted to apply to before I did my application at all.

And this is risky.

I don't think I would recommend it.

I only applied to two schools.

Okay.

Yeah.

Location, huge part of it because my, my fiance and I knew we were going to live apart anyway because I'm not originally from Wisconsin, so I was not going to get in state tuition.

And so I was looking for programs that could start whenever because I was already working.

So like the January start programs weren't a problem for me.

I would actually had preferred to start earlier.

So that was great.

Programs that were affordable because I had already done another master's degree.

And so for me, like, there's just no way that I was going to go to a program that was, you know, over.

Some of them are six figure programs and that I just Wasn't going to be able to do that.

And then I really wanted a program that was smaller.

I couldn't see myself in a big class because some of this I knew, was going to be very new to me.

Like, I never.

Even though I redid anatomy, I did it at community college.

I'd never done anything with cadavers before.

And I knew I was really going to need a program that had a plan for helping students who were struggling.

So I even asked that in the open house, like, what do you do with students that are struggling?

So even though I am not a resident of Missouri, Missouri has.

Missouri State has a program that tuition matches for students from a lot of different Midwestern states.

And so going to Missouri State, I still got in state tuition.

And so that's where I knew I wanted to go.

I applied to one other school because I felt bad applying to one.

It all worked out.

That's awesome.

No, that's great.

And, yeah, my cost was a big factor I looked at, too, and for me, location.

But cost was.

I mean, yeah, you can very quickly, you know, quadruple what you're going to have to take out in loans.

Just living expensive for some programs that were in bigger cities and things like that.

Yeah, I mean.

Yeah, some of those cities are so expensive.

So good.

Yeah.

Okay, so that.

That's awesome.

Did you.

So you applied to two programs.

Did you end up interviewing at both, or you just went with Missouri and you were like, good to go.

By the time I got accepted to Missouri State, I got an interview at the other school, but I turned it down because I knew I wanted to go to Missouri State, and it started in January and I was ready to go.

The turnaround's like three months by the time you get accepted to start, so.

No, that's awesome.

Okay, perfect.

Well, that.

That worked out.

And I think part of that is being a prepared applicant.

I see a lot of people who kind of, like, try to rush the process and maybe don't have, like, the patient care experience and the things that they really need.

Whereas if you, you know, have that, which, yeah, you're kind of a career changer, but, you know, if you have that stuff, you're just setting yourself up for a much more successful application cycle.

Now, I know you said you use the PA platform some, but, like, what resources did you use?

What did you find helpful?

And maybe what would you have done differently if you look back and try to think about your process?

So even though I just said I applied to two schools and it worked out, If I was going to do it over again, I would not do that.

Okay.

And that, that was a lot of eggs to put in one basket.

But also, you know, just to, for, for peace of mind.

It's hard not to compare yourself to other students.

So even though I felt like a good applicant, I felt like I checked every box.

You know, I did the pre advising with the schools I was interested in.

I still, every day was like, I'm not going to get accepted.

You know, this is terrible.

Like application season is so, so nerve wracking that I think I just would have had better peace of mind if I applied to other schools.

Even though it all worked out, I found a lot of benefit using the PA platform.

Facebook page.

Yes.

Being able to like just ask questions and have, have other people answer or ask like is anybody a Missouri State student?

I was able to talk to some people that were already students at the time, which was very helpful.

I also use the physician assistant forum to keep track of our school sending out their interview dates and like when are they sending out acceptances, things like that.

And then you can look back and see historically as well.

Like, oh, they usually do this October.

So I kind of know this is coming.

I used my PA resource to just double check my personal statement where I was out of school.

I didn't, I don't really, didn't really have any resources for school, school counselors or offices.

And then I knew a PA was going to be looking at it.

That was like a huge, a huge reason why I used my PA resource.

And then I use the PA platform for my secondary applications to look over those as well.

Because I was only applying to two schools, so I was like the cost of applying to another cycle versus making every single thing on this application perfect for me.

That was so, so, so worth it.

And then just listening to, to PA podcasts and I also read your book, which the, the title.

Was it out then?

Yeah, the title is escaping me the interview and probably.

Yeah, anyone else would have been out yet, so no.

Yeah, there's only one book at the time, so it was the interview guide and then just looking up like common interview questions and things like that.

I tried to do as much research as I could when I was like very nervous.

Yeah, I mean I think prepping, it's hard to over prep for the process and it's just so involved unfortunately.

But yeah, it sounds like you did everything in your power to make sure you're prepared.

I'll try it.

Yeah.

So, okay, so you got accepted, which was awesome.

And then you said you had a three month turnaround to kind of.

Yeah, I got accepted in early October and the program started in early January.

Okay.

I had to move states in there.

So it was a quick turnaround to, you know, leave my job.

Yeah.

Move.

Which, I mean, that's so common.

And that's what we were talking at work today about.

Wait list and how you have to like be ready to go and all that stuff.

Because some people get off, you know, right before our program starts, which is a little bit stressful.

Do you have any tips for somebody who has to move for PA school or is like going somewhere where maybe they don't necessarily have like their support.

Support system.

Yeah.

Thing you found helpful in that process.

So my program is about four hours from where I'm from.

Okay.

And so I just want to preface that, but I wasn't at home.

My fiance lived nine hours away, but my parents were four hours away.

So I did.

I. I was able.

If I really wanted to, I did have a support system.

I just had to travel to them.

But moving, you know, away from home to a new state, it was very helpful that I lived with someone in the program.

And we did not know each other before.

And my program had a Facebook page.

I think a lot of different programs do that.

And we were like, anybody who's interested in having a roommate.

We had a zoom session, kind of got to know each other, feel out who would go well together.

And I ended up living with somebody in the program.

And that was hugely cathartic to be able to come home and say, like, today was a lot.

Yeah.

Or just due dates and things like that.

Having a community in my class was amazing.

And one of the things I really appreciated about having a smaller class.

We're only 30.

Okay.

With the quick turnaround.

Making sure that, you know, especially if you're still working and you're going to work pretty close up to the day that you leave, that you have PTO or some ability to look at apartments or look at where you're going to live.

Yeah, I do not recommend.

I know some people pick out apartments and things like this online now, but that would scare me too much.

So before my program started, I did have to take time off to go look at places, you know, see campus.

They were all virtual.

And so I was accepted by the time I saw campus for the first time.

But just being Able to know, you know, how far away I'm going to live, what's around me, what is this town famous for?

And having time to research that.

It was hugely helpful as well, because I only took off, I think, two weeks before I moved, and then kind.

Of just jumped right in.

Yeah, I took.

My last day of work was two weeks.

I saw my family said, hey, great, you know, I'm not gonna see you as much the next two years.

And then, yeah, moved.

Oh, wow.

So, yeah, I mean, it's.

It's.

That's common.

I mean, it's just such a.

A big thing, like, when you get in, like, you just gotta be ready to go and ready to jump right in.

But there's a lot involved, so.

I know you touched on this a little bit.

Just saying.

PA School was a little different than your other masters.

What were your expectations going in and how was PA school?

Kind of what you expected or different than what you expected?

So at first, I was quickly humbled because again, I was like, I have another master's degree.

I have a great gpa.

You know, I've worked clinically, all these things.

And then anatomy.

I might be in the minority here, but I. Anatomy was the hardest class I took in PA school.

Really?

Okay.

Yes.

I know a lot of people say it's every other.

I will take physiology every day.

I will take any clin exam.

Anatomy was the hardest thing I've ever done.

Cadavers.

Yes.

Okay.

And so first semester, that was the class that had me at, like, you know, 2:00am like, did I make the right choice?

You know, you're, like, crying.

They count spelling for y'.

All.

I can't even remember because it was not my thing.

Like, I would have been happy if I spelled it wrong, much less.

There are some things I was making up.

Last gotten words for.

I swear.

Well, I swear they, like, in our practicals, they counted spelling.

And I would be like, oh, my gosh.

Like, I know what it is, but am I spelling it right?

I don't know.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, anatomy.

Anatomy was hard.

And it was.

Yeah, it was truly.

I would just study as hard as I could, go in there and get, like, a 79, which is really disheartening.

But I think it taught me how to study in a different way.

I ended up getting a B.

It was fine.

Yeah, I pulled through in the end.

And from there.

Something that surprised me about PA school is you have to change how you study every semester, depending on the class.

And that is.

That's a huge adjustment at first.

Even if you're a great student before, it might not work then.

Especially for there's some classes that group studying is just so good for.

And I was not used to that either.

Once I got more into, like, you know, Clin Med and clinicals or even procedures, that's when it started to feel like PA school.

When you feel like you're doing medicine our first semester at least.

Yeah.

When you're doing, like, physiology and the really, like, basic, like, parts of a physical exam, it just doesn't feel as much like you're doing medicine.

And so it was hard for me at first.

I mean, I think that's for everybody.

I really do.

Yeah.

What?

Since you're kind of fresh, when did you graduate?

December.

Okay.

So still kind of fresh out of school.

What resources did you find most helpful for studying?

I used Pants Prep Pearls in my clinical year.

I don't think it would have been that helpful and didactic.

I know a lot of people are like, when do I get it?

If.

It only helps if you already know some of the information.

So Pants Prep Pearls, our program used rush review.

I'm not a huge rash fan.

Okay.

Personally, nothing wrong with it.

I just.

Personally, that doesn't work very well for me.

And then I used osmosis.

Okay.

For anatomy, I believe is what I ended up using.

That kind of helped.

Helped me.

And then picmonic as well.

Picmonic is incredibly silly, but it's good for remembering things.

So that was very helpful for Clin Med and Anatomy.

And fizz.

Yeah.

See, that's so interesting how things just change over the years because we didn't really have a lot of that when I was in PA school.

Yeah.

We had like the one comprehensive review book and that was it.

And it barely has any information in it, but I use that.

But then, like, Cuban are my thing.

Like, like the key.

Like, even now, like, Roche for me is like, like the most perfect thing.

Whereas I can't get, like.

I like picmonic and osmosis.

And I will watch them sometimes and I do think they are helpful.

But like, for me, like, just that Q A and like, seeing the explanations is.

Yeah, that's for, like, made for my brain.

Most of my classmates loved it too.

It's just so interesting.

Everybody's different.

Yeah.

But you find what works and then.

Exactly, use it until, like you said, it doesn't work and then you have to change it.

Yeah.

Okay.

So being somewhat of a new grad, what has your like or what did your job search look like?

With kind of figuring out what you wanted to do, where you wanted to be.

I hear a lot of mixed things coming from new grads as far as like job availability and you know, different.

Different stuff.

And I think a lot of that's location and yeah.

Based and all that.

But what was your experience like?

So I knew I was gonna be coming back to Wisconsin because my fiance is from here.

So that was helpful because I knew where I needed to be somewhere in the state after school.

So I was looking as an, an out of state person because I was in Missouri.

And so I used every resource I could.

I met a lot of wonderful people at aapa and I would say like, does anybody have any connections to anywhere in Wisconsin?

And some people really did, which was very helpful.

I knew I wanted to work in nephrology, GI family practice or endocrinology, something where I could still use my degree in nutrition.

And so I cold message like some places and said, hey, like I'm really interested in nephrology.

I'm going to be moving.

And then I was able to set up one clinical up here as well.

Okay.

Like I'm in the area.

Love to speak about this further.

Other than that, I contacted some recruiters for hospitals, like large hospital systems, even if they didn't have a position open, just to say I was interested in.

So the job that I ended up getting in gastroenterology, I applied for an endocrinology position with them and they turned it down.

I applied for another one, they turned it down.

And I called the recruiter and I said, hey, like, I really feel like I'm a good fit for endocrinology.

Like, what gives?

I'm not getting any interviews.

And she was like, oh, it's nothing personal.

Like endocrinology here just can't take new grads.

But would you be interested in gi?

Interesting.

Yeah, I would be.

It says on the top of my resume.

And so that's how I ended up getting my job.

I interviewed at another place for nephrology that I only interviewed because I cold call or cold emailed them and said I was interested in nephrology.

And they were like, anybody who's interested in nephrology is good enough for us to interview.

So I, I had a lot of luck with the, with the job search.

I had a handful of places I interviewed and I got my favorite choice in the end.

Well, it sounds like you really put yourself out there too early.

Very early.

Yeah.

And that I think is what pays off.

I, I Agree.

Like, in my mind, the worst thing that happens, they just like, say no or don't respond.

Like, what's it gonna hurt?

Yeah, exactly.

I'm sure places do that by.

I got hired at my job, I think like two and a half months before graduation, maybe three.

But from my last interview to the time they hired me was a full month.

So all of that was really nerve wracking at the time.

But I'm glad it took place while I was still in school and not after I graduated.

Waiting to work, trying to figure out the next step.

I kind of already knew the direction.

That you wanted to take.

No, that's awesome.

Let's.

And yeah, I had this question and completely skipped over it.

I want to talk about your involvement during PA school with AAPA and PAEA and how that, how you got involved.

If that was something that, like, your school promoted and like kind of encouraged y' all to do or that was something you just did on your own since you were the.

The student of the year.

That's.

I mean, that's really.

That's huge.

So how did you kind of get involved with the PA profession?

Is that something that you wanted to do or.

Yeah, so I got involved with PAEA first.

Okay.

The Physician Assistant Education Association.

So I saw a post online and honestly, it might have been on the PA platform about how there's a position open.

And I looked it up and I was.

I really have an interest in education.

I have like a certificate from my undergrad in college education.

I used to precept as a dietitian and I want to improve nutrition education in PA programs.

So I already was interested in education.

Saw the position for student member at large.

I had no idea what it was.

My advisor kind of.

We didn't really have a great idea what it was.

And it ended up being an amazing opportunity that I'm still finishing.

That's a two year term with PAEA on the board of directors.

And you're involved with a little bit of everything.

They make caspa, they do research, they have the annual education conference and workshops and things like that.

So I was doing those projects and someone within the organization nominated me for the AAPA Student Member or, sorry, PA Student of the Year.

And after you, like, get nominated, you have to do an essay and get some recommendation letters.

And I remember doing it and being like, okay, like, I'm never gonna get this.

And then I got the call and I was shocked.

I felt like it was a dream.

Like I, like, made it up.

But it was an amazing Opportunity.

It was great for networking, going to apa.

I met a lot of really wonderful people there as well.

But.

But PAEA had tons of opportunities for students.

It's just that they come up.

Applications come up once a year.

This is actually the time Student member at large.

The application is going to close May 19th, I believe.

Okay.

But then the fellowship.

So there's a future educator fellowship and a health policy fellowship, and those close in July.

And those are year long fellowships where you're mentored by a PA faculty member.

There's educational components along with it for anybody that's interested in being an educator in the future or working in health policy grassroots advocacy for the profession.

So there's a lot of amazing opportunities for students within paea.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

See, it's interesting because our program focused more on our state society.

Yeah.

In the national ones.

Like we didn't do as much talking about or like involvement with those, but like we were pretty involved with gapa, which was the Georgia pa. Yeah.

We did some stuff with moapa, but luckily one of my faculty members was on the E. One of the EOR boards.

Oh, nice.

And then another one did the packrat Committee, I believe kind of had had.

Some little ends there.

Some ties to paea.

Yeah.

Yeah.

No, that's.

I think that's good encouragement for people to just kind of look for those opportunities.

That's what I always try to.

If I, I see anything or somebody sends it to me.

I always try to share stuff that's out there just that people wouldn't necessarily know about but may be interested in and like, you know, scholarships or whatever.

That is just ways to get involved.

I think there's a lot of opportunity out there.

So that's awesome.

Well, I really appreciate your time and, and sharing all about your experience and I'm sure this will be super helpful to a lot of people who have similar interest and are on.

On a similar path and they can probably relate to you a little bit.

A little bit from this too.

Amazing.

Thank you.

Yeah.

So much better on the other side.

Now that I'm a pa.

I'm glad that we did this.

Now after I'm working to be like, let me tell you about it.

Is it better?

Yeah, it is, it is.

So I mean it's.

Yeah, it's a great profession.

That's what we like talk about at work with my like colleagues and stuff because people ask or we'll have students and we're like, we don't.

Like, we have no regrets whatsoever.

Like we're so happy with what we do.

And I don't know, I mean, medicine, healthcare in general has some issues, but, you know, as far as being a pa, like, it's just, it's pretty, it's a great profession.

So rewarding.

Yeah.

So.

Yeah.

Well, I'm, I'm glad you got your, your dream job.

One of my good friends in school ended up in GI and she's been doing it since we graduated and like, loves it.

And you know, I think it's, it's interesting because you'll find some people, like, find their niche, like, right out of school and then other people, it takes them a little while.

Yeah, I know.

Even I'm trying to be open.

You know how the great thing about the profession is you can change in the future.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But even within gi, I work in motility, so like manometry and ph studies and things like that.

And it.

So it's the niche of a niche.

I love it.

I, I cannot imagine doing anything else at this moment.

Well, that's what's so funny because, like, I actually loved endocrinology and the only reason I took, I did a rotation in Endo was because I hated learning about it in school.

Like, it was my least favorite section we had.

So I was like, oh, like I should do a rotation because then I, like, I'll actually learn it.

And I got to the rotation and I loved it.

Yeah, it's amazing how that works.

Yeah.

And so there's actually, there's an endocrinology office right by my house and I'm always like, maybe one day I'll just work there and do, do a little endocrinology and you know, I don't know.

So it's nice to at least have options.