Meet Your Alumni: How Charis Alexander鈥檚 海角直播 experience opened doors to med school
Publish Date: Aug. 10, 2024
Charis Alexander cannot talk about her time at 海角直播 without talking about its student clubs.
When the now 18-year-old first stepped onto the Yucaipa-based college鈥檚 campus four years ago, student clubs welcomed her with open arms.
鈥淗aving that grounding and community when everything was shut down [because of the Covid pandemic], they were a big stress reliever and motivator for me,鈥� said the Beaumont resident. 鈥淚t was what I needed 鈥� self-care by building community through balance, boundaries, and volunteer work.鈥�
Alexander was happy to reflect on her time at 海角直播 when asked, one that started when she was just 14. She then enrolled in one class to get a leg up on her college requirements and get a taste of college life by 鈥渄ipping her toes into the water.鈥� Her hard work paid off when she graduated with an associate degree in history in 2021.
After graduating from 海角直播, Alexander transferred to the University of Southern California, where she earned a bachelor鈥檚 in neuroscience just a few weeks ago. In the fall, she鈥檒l begin her med school studies through the USC-Caltech MD-PhD Program, which provides 鈥渟tudents with an enviable range of cross-disciplinary research opportunities鈥� (https://keck.usc.edu/md-phd-program/).
You may wonder how Alexander went from art history to neuroscience to medicine?
鈥淲hen I first started at 海角直播, I was thinking about going into science because I was very 鈥榮cience focused,鈥欌�� she explained. 鈥淏ut when talking to my counselors, they encouraged me to think of the opportunities available at 海角直播 and I started thinking about what else I loved doing. That ended up being humanities and history.
鈥淚 eventually began studying neuroscience because I liked human behavior, and history provides a different angle of human behavior over time,鈥� Alexander continued. 鈥淪o, I was able to discover a new side to what I was passion about, and I don鈥檛 think I would have been able to do that had I started at a four-year university.鈥�
For those looking to have the kind of success Alexander experienced, her biggest piece of advice is to get invested and get connected.
鈥淭ake the opportunity you have with the incredible support system available at 海角直播 to start something new and to create something new,鈥� she said.
Embark on your own 海角直播 Experience today at the College website: craftonhills.edu.
