From Struggling High School Graduate to Sonographer and Aspiring Physician's Assistant Saroosh Hussain Khan

Carefully, I move the probe around the patient’s belly. Sliding it on top of piles of gel that I had generously poured until suddenly everyone can hear it…Lub.dub...Lub.dub. Tears of joy roll down my patient’s eyes as she listens to the rhythmic beat projecting from the Doppler’s speakers. It sounds more like a galloping horse than an actual heart. But to her, every beat announces the burgeoning miracle inside her body.

When I graduated from high school, my transcript did not reflect stellar grades nor my resume boast of a sparkling list of extracurricular activities. In fact, I did not even know if I wanted to go to college. My family migrated to the United States from Pakistan when I was on the cusps of adolescence. As new immigrants, everyone in the house had to work to make ends meet and being the youngest did nothing to help my cause. So I had to start working at a very early age, which made focusing on school an incredibly daunting task.

Like many with only a High school diploma, I remained in between jobs for several years. Six months of day night shifts at 7/11, four at the local grocery store and maybe a few months to a year at a clothing retail store like Macy's if I got lucky. I was severely depressed about where my...