The scholarships Brittany Schleeter received made it possible to say “yes” to all the possibilities that come with being a college student. Those chances sent her on an archeology dig that put her back on track to her childhood dream of working in pathology and opened the door to graduate school.
“My whole mentality in college is to take advantage of anything that I can. It is my motto to try everything in college.”
While Britt has always known that science was in her future, she was questioning her choice of pathology when she went on an education abroad experience in Ireland following her freshman year.
“I was not very worldly. I had not gotten out of my bubble, so it helped me think outside of that. I was introduced to a different approach to medicine and health. I think now with a more ethical approach and an anthropological perspective. That really shaped my motivation moving forward with healthcare, making it more focused on the patient and the person.”
Her trip to Ireland fired up an interest in anthropology. When she returned to campus, Britt took an anthropology class that introduced her to forensic sciences. She explored further and discovered pathology assisting, which is the laboratory’s equivalent of a physician’s assistant.
“I full circled. I went from pathology to anthropology and through anthropology, I went back to pathology.”
Britt is excited that her path has led her back to pathology. She starts grad school in May at Drexel University College of Medicine to earn her master’s in pathology assisting, a profession that will put her in a clinical lab setting.
“I like the hands-on nature of the actual profession. I like being able to touch and feel and see what I am doing. I also like the fact that everything is new, and you see a lot of wonderfully weird cases.”
Britt hopes to be able to return to the Lima area and find ways to serve the community. Because she had scholarships as an undergrad, she was able to take a job in a local emergency room and saw needs that she could help with.
“I think especially in a rural area like Lima, there is a huge issue with medical literacy and people not understanding health care in the way it should be understood. I want to do public outreach and try to help people better understand diagnoses and better understand factors that lead to disease and how to prevent things.”
Britt realizes the impact that scholarships have had on her educational and professional journey. Her scholarships meant she could try jobs that would give her experience in her field and that she could take on the next step in her education because she wasn’t carrying large debts with her going forward.
“Scholarships really makes an impact on students' lives, especially in a world where you are encouraged to go to college. It is almost a given you are going to be in debt coming out of college and I think it's important to buck that idea, especially for kids going on and continuing their education. You cannot be in that amount of debt.”
Brittany Schleeter graduated with a bachelor of science in biology with a forensic concentration and a minor in physical anthropology. She is in grad school at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia to earn a master’s degree in pathology assisting.