By Marketta Bennett
Do you ever wonder how life will be after graduating from undergrad or grad school? William Peace University will have many graduates this December and one is yours truly, Isaiah Davis.
Davis is currently a senior majoring in Human Biology. He will be graduating this December and has an option between schools to continue his education as a graduate student. Davis is not only a student here at William Peace, he has become a peer tutor for multiple courses where he focuses on his major and an orientation leader.
“I tutor sections in the Biology department, classes like Anatomy Physiology, some Chemistry courses, as well as Intro to Bio,” said Davis. “As well as an orientation leader for the past year.”
Davis has been here at William Peace all four years. During his freshman year, he played on the men’s basketball team. Throughout his time at William Peace, he decided to take some time off to refocus and get things together to have better upcoming years.
“From the beginning to end, I have seen Peace kind of grow with how they handle things. I have seen the campus just get progressively better as far as resources and things like that,” said Davis. “We’re always progressing and seeing changes and accommodations they made for students, especially during the time we’re in right now, being in the pandemic.”
William Peace is well known for its size. Davis chose Peace due to its small community inside and out of class. Davis was introduced to a lot of great faculty and staff during his first tour on campus. He was introduced to the small classrooms and the teacher to student ratio.
He really admired the way it was possible for teachers and students to have better relationships with one another and their advisors.
“It is a little bit better than being at a bigger university like our surrounding universities like UNC and State,” said Davis.
The reason Davis chose his major is that he believes there are the underrepresented presence of African American and people of color in healthcare. He believes the percentage of black people, as well as the percentage of black males, is extremely low in the field.
“I want to make a change and to let young black kids know that it is okay to be a doctor, physician, nurse, psychiatrist, etc,” said Davis. “By doing this, I plan to mentor young black, African American, Latinos, and other people of color to help them within the science field.”
Davis expressed how he has a few favorite professors on campus that he feels bring a lot to the table for their students. One professor he stated was Mrs. Jennings-Alexander. He explains her personality is great. He feels she is a person a student can come talk to with ease as well as to be mentored.
“My other favorite professor is Dr. Myer who is also my advisor,” said Davis.
Davis believes COVID definitely played a big part in his last year being an undergraduate. It was a switch that made a big change, especially mentally.
“Just trying to grasp everything, on top of the school work and your social life. And then being that we had to be on campus sometimes or online, trying to make that transition and switch and get in accommodated with things got a little rough at times,” said Davis.
Davis’s transition from his freshman year to senior year has changed drastically. Coming to WPU, he was just focused on basketball and no taking classes as seriously as he should have.
He was not engaged throughout the campus events and activities. Now that he is about to leave WPU, there has been a complete change. He is a lot more mature, excels in his courses, and on the route to attend medical school.
He plans to take the MCAT, the Medical College Administration Test, for medical school. Currently, he has about 15 schools he has in mind to apply to and be in Medical school in August 2022.
“The top five schools would be Meharry which is an HBCU Medical school located in Tennessee, UNC, ECU, East Virginia Medical School, and as well as Louisana State University,” said Davis.
Davis believes WPU is a great school to recommend to a family or friend. With the resources and being a small community, they will get to know a lot of people and get to build relations with those people. They will be able to network pretty well.
He believes the support at WPU is more genuine and more important. He also believes a person is found to be more important, they won’t be overlooked like they would if they were someone else.
“My tip for a freshman or an incoming freshman is to believe in yourself. Any goal you have is achievable and do not let anyone tell you otherwise,” said Davis. “ college can be a challenge at times, but it’s minor sacrifices to get you to where you want to be.”
After Davis graduates, he will most likely stay in the Raleigh area applying to the universities stated above plus more and doing research to get ready and prepare for the next Fall semester of school.
“Depends on who accepts me in school, that is where I will be whether that is in the RDU area for example if I’m at UNC or whatnot but other than that, we’ll just have to see if I stay in the Raleigh area or not,” said Davis.
WPU benefited Davis in a positive way with the connections with people such as some Alumni. As WPU held an Alumni Mentor event, he was able to talk to and connect with Alums who were in the same field as him. He was able to get tips and pointers from that specific Alum.
As Davis gathers himself and gets ready to graduate, the WPU community continues to help him, as well as other soon to be grads to send them on their way.