Persistence Not Perfection

 This is a story about Carl Allamby, who grew up poor in Cleveland, and wasn't a fantastic student in middle school/high school. But after graduation he purchased and ran his own successful auto repair shops, and as part of that started taking classes at a local community college, then graduated from business school.  After 2 decades, he decided he wanted to go into medicine, and eventually put himself through medical school.  He graduated at 47, and was hired as a physician at 51 after completing his residency. https://www.npr.org/2022/10/05/1126661330/carl-allamby-mechanic-to-physician   

Thi s blog is dedicated to encouraging and empowering students, particularly students pursing careers in STEM ( science, technology, engineering and mathematics )  fields.   Students can sometimes have the impression that a single bad grade, or even a single less than perfect test score, dashes their hopes for a career in the sciences.  That is simply not true.  It is not true even if you have done fairly poorly in school during decent chunk of  your  education.  This can easily happen for those of us who have had other life challenges and lots of non-academic responsibilities during our education.  Or just those of us who didn't find school a good fit early on.   STEM needs you, needs your perspective, your experience, your resilience, and your persistence.   Those  of us who have contributed our stories here are all successful scientists who didn't have perfect grades (or even who had  abysmal  grades) at some point in our educational journey.  We want you to understand that

  Name: Toran D. MacLeod, PT, MPT, PhD, MS Profession: Tenured-Faculty Current and Previous Titles: Associate Professor   I am hungry.   Now in middle school, I am hungry for food. Being tall and big for my age, bullies often want to get in fights. I frequently felt hungry as I went to bed at night. I need mentorship.   I am in high school, confused and lonely. I play sports, exercise is my medicine. I don’t understand that learning HOW to learn is the most important for me to learn. A teacher found me, mentors me, shows me a human skeleton that I can memorize all the parts.   Unsure of what the future holds but loving all the information that I get to decide for myself, I am in a junior college. I do not understand that grades really do matter for my future, my grade point average is a 2.5. I learn that earning good grades can pay for school and my education.   I transfer to a public university, to earn a degree in Kinesiology. This was what I could affor

  Name: Lizabeth Bowen, PhD Profession: Wildlife Ecologist, Eco-immunology, Eco-toxicology, Marine Current and Previous Titles: Research Ecologist, Principal Investigator, Sea Lion Hugger,  Athlete, Mom Well there was high school. I earned almost all As (1 B in band which was generous). I played three varsity sports and won the scholar athlete award at graduation. I had worked very hard to achieve this and put a ton of pressure on myself. My parents honestly never pressured me about anything really – it was all from within. Then there was college. I went to UC Santa Cruz (when the mascot was still the sea lion – long time ago). I specifically chose Santa Cruz because they did not have grades (at that time). I was so burned out from high school that I just wanted to go somewhere where I could focus on learning, not achieving. My first two years were probably two of the most difficult years in my life. I took all of the required classes and did very well. I still felt so much pressure to

Name:  Dana Carrison-Stone, MS Profession:  Marine Biologist Current and Previous Title (s):  Scientist, Living Systems Lab Manager at Exploratorium, Research Biologist/Curatorial Assistant at California Academy of Sciences, Field Biologist, Horse Trainer, and Motorcycle Rider  I am stubborn, I always have been, a stubborn introvert. I like to do things my way but I love to see things from other perspectives and learn how living things ‘work’. I do not believe everything I’m told. I strive to understand the natural world around me from observation and curiosity. I’m telling you this because these characteristics are what have carried me through life, it helps to know yourself, and to accept that you’re both different and the same as all the other people around you. No one can change who you are or take who you are away from you. Remember that, it is a powerful and wonderful thing. I am also smart and eager but not competitive. I despise being in the limelight and fail under pressure. I

Name: Aviva Rossi, MS, PhD Profession: Wildlife Ecologist Title (s): Scientist, Professor, Research Director, Soccer Mom I haven't actually ever had anyone ask me for my high school GPA.  I knew that I was going to go to community college after high school, simply for financial considerations.  If memory serves, I started taking classes at the local community college at 14 years old.  I took a class in Orienteering and Navigation with my Mom, just for fun.  Then I had to take a class there my senior year of high school to get enough units to graduate, because I had failed too many in high school.  Looking back, I'm not even entirely sure I fully recognized the difference between a community college and a 4-year college/university at the time.  I picked a college that was in a beautiful area, somewhere around a lot of nature where I would want to live, and went there.  It was Feather River College in Quincy, California.  Although many people in my extended family have higher ed