When Kayla Kinker first saw her white coat before the UK College of Medicine ceremony
began, she could hardly contain her excitement.
I was beside myself.
Like it didn't even feel real.
Except for the parts where I was like "Oh my gosh.
This really happening."
It was my dream to come to school here and I never thought it would be possible.
A dream that seemed out of reach the summer before her senior year of high school.
I pretty much grew up in destitution by American standards.
So life was pretty rough.
The apartments we were living in really just were not stable.
We would go without basic utilities for long periods of time.
I had to make a choice, I think, as to whether I was going to withdraw from school and go
work full-time to help keep our household stable.
I mean, on a given day I didn't know where I was going to eat dinner or if I was going
to eat dinner, or how I would have clean clothes for school the next day, things like that.
So, I thought really long and hard and realized that in the long run, I could do a lot more
for my family and a lot more for my community if I committed to school and to academics.
And so, I knew that I wasn't going to be able to do that in the environment that I was living
in without electric and running water and things like that.
So, a school counselor called the Welcome House, which is a shelter for women and children
in northern Kentucky and the staff there kindly offered me a bed for the rest of my senior
year of high school until I graduated.
She moved out of the shelter and onto graduate from Berea College.
Now she hopes this white coat will help her give back.
I've always felt that a lot of people had to work very hard to get me here.
So, now that I have this coat I feel like I'm finally on my way to paying that back
and I'll finally be in a position where I can help others, like myself, to get to a
better place in their lives.
She hopes being a part of the Rural Physician Leadership Program will help her reach that
goal.
I have the unique opportunity to do my rotations in Morehead, Kentucky, which will allow me
to get a better idea of the needs of rural Kentucky specifically and how I, as a future
physician, can provide for those needs.
Kayla feels her life experience can help her care for those who are suffering.
I feel very grateful that the University of Kentucky would give me a chance to show them
that I can provide for patients in a different way than everyone else.
I can relate to suffer on many levels in ways that not everyone can.
I think that with ample academic performance, that more students like me could really make
a difference in the lives of patients.
That's why her dream is to give back in the Bluegrass state.
My broader goal is to open a community health center where people can come regardless of
how much money they have or whether they have health insurance or not.
And really get their needs met.
So while this future doctor dreams of healing people one day she hopes telling her story
now will motivate those who are suffering.
Wherever you are in life, whether you're in a healthy situation or an unhealthy situation,
use that motivation around you to fuel you to do something great with your life.
My parents didn't have a lot.
They didn't have a legacy to give to me.
They didn't really set a standard of professional aspirations for me, but they did teach me
to be a good person and they did tell me that I could do whatever I wanted.
So I think the fact that I set this goal and I was able to achieve it is more than they
could ever hope for.
You can do whatever you want if you set your mind to it.
And sometimes it doesn't feel you can do.
Sometimes you don't have electric at home.
But really, if you just keep putting one foot in front of the other and don't give up.
Believe me, there were many times when I wanted to give up but I didn't.
And it worked.
I think I would just say, "You can do it!"