Graduation Day

Today, 10 years after graduating high school, I will finally achieve my lifelong dream of becoming a doctor. I think back on all the of the people I met on this journey: my 7th grade history teacher who wanted me to be her child's pediatrician, my 8th grade English teacher who called on me by saying "paging Dr. Shambayati" and compared diagramming a sentence to dissecting a cadaver, my college premed advisor who said that I would never be a doctor and that I should be a therapist instead, and my college English professor who said being a physician is who I am meant to be. Most of all, I want to thank my family, especially my mother who came to this country with me in her arms and stood by me every step of the way, through the hard times and the best times. I love you, and I could not have done this without you.