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Asmaa Ahmed: Biology
Asmaa Ahmed is driven toward science. It’s in her blood, you could say. Her dad was a chemist, and her mother studied hematology. That’s where her passion for finding a career that helps other people comes from.
She is enrolled in the Biology program with Northern Arizona University through SCC’s 2+2 program. Students take two years of courses at SCC, then, staying on the same campus, students complete the NAU program to achieve a bachelor’s degree, offering the convenience of staying at a campus close to you. The best part? She gets to stay at home.
“That's one of the big things for me,” Ahmed said. “It's a really cool program. The professors are awesome. They give you that one-on-one time. One of my favorite courses so far is microbiology. It's been cool just trying to get into all of the cells and understanding everything. My teacher, Dr. Ashby, was awesome throughout the whole thing. I appreciate her.”
After her bachelor's degree, she wants to apply NAU’s Physician's Assistant (PA) program. The driving force is to help people. “PAs work with patients; they do physical examinations; they can help prescribe medications,” she said. “It's just really helping your patient get from maybe a six or eight on the pain scale to a really healthy state.”
Ahmed feels SCC and NAU have prepared her for the PA program by giving her opportunities. “If I wanted to learn something more within the medical field, the professors were more than willing to help us get our foot into it. They'll give us the resources that we need too. They're 100% on board with making sure we succeed,” said Ahmed.
Her long-term career goals are to become a physician's assistant and specialize in either dermatology or pediatrics. “I've always loved kids and I want to make sure kids have a chance at life and heal from whatever they're going through.”
No great effort is done alone, though. Ahmed has used SCC’s free tutoring service for help with calculus, and the advising program has been with her step-by-step, helping her gauge where she needs to go next or what she might be missing. But it’s her classmates and professors she liked the most.
“Honestly, I've gone to so many different schools and I've never had professors that really care about their students and really want to make sure we succeed at the end of the day,” she said. “I think when I went to previous colleges, I had problems with really engaging with the instructors and having that one-on-one time. The SCC and NAU program has smaller classes so you're more engaged and you're more focused.”