Ever since I was a young girl, I wanted to become a doctor when I got older. I was so sure of what I wanted to pursue that my relatives and even my friends would always refer to me as “Doctor Raisa.” It made me feel good about myself back then, but now I feel as if I have to live up to everyone’s expectations and that’s pretty stressful. Especially now, as a biochemistry major, I realize how difficult it is going to actually be to become a doctor. However, there is nothing else I want to study and pursue, so I am motivated enough to try as hard as I can to succeed and become what I want. So far, school hasn’t been too difficult, but I can see how it can easily become challenging and difficult to maintain. Especially since I have the tendency to procrastinate a lot and get distracted easily, I always end up getting my work done in time making sure it’s quality work. Coming from a South Asian, Bengali family, the pressure to do exceptionally well in school and actually become either a doctor, lawyer, or engineer is real (I know other South Asians can relate).

In addition to my academic interests, I always enjoyed arts and crafts, even though I’m not all that great. It’s very comforting and stress relieving and I have been exposed to it ever since I was young because of my mother. My childhood consisted of doing a lot of art at home with my mother for fun and it stuck as a hobby as I got older. The artwork that we created always had some cultural or religious characteristics and I feel as if that helped me to grow up with a lot of Bengali Muslim pride. Although there were times when I have faced problems because of my ethnicity and especially my religion, I would never let racism and disrespectful comments make me lose sight of how amazing my identity is. Even now, my pride in my culture and religion is very prominent and I would definitely say that it’s a big part of me.