Even with her senior year of high school being cut short due to COVID-19, Stacey Zhang ‘20 used her time at EHS, pushing herself towards her goals. She spent her time at EHS getting to know the staff and being involved inside and outside the classroom, including the girls volleyball team. Now in the six-year pharmacy program at Rutgers University, Zhang intends to become an OB/GYN. In her time at Rutgers, she was also the 2024-25 president of the Rutgers Pharmacy Governing Council.
EE: What did you enjoy the most about your time at EHS?
SZ: The thing I enjoyed the most about EHS was the staff and faculty. They were so supportive, and I loved how they were so willing to get me involved. I was a very involved student during my time. Even though my time was cut short, I was as involved as I possibly could, and all the faculty were so helpful in trying to get me to what I wanted to achieve. I definitely won’t forget that.
EE: What have you enjoyed about your current time at Rutgers?
SZ: For Rutgers, I think what I enjoy the most is the diversity on campus. I’m a pharmacy student, so I am limited to just pharmacy school and the major; however, Rutgers is such a big school. I get the opportunity to go to events like basketball games, cultural clubs, or other sports events. These are things that I had the privilege of also going to and attending at EHS, but now at the large level. Also, I am getting the chance to focus on my major in a smaller school.
EE: Was procrastination with your classwork a major issue? If so, what time-management skills do you use, and do you still use them?
SZ: Yes, I think procrastination is something that happens; it would be a lie if I said it didn’t. It was mostly towards the beginning of my picking up a lot of extracurriculars. I think that I learned how to manage my time when I felt overwhelmed. When you get the feeling of being overwhelmed, it is really important to know your limit and to be self-aware of what you can and can not handle. I definitely learned how to balance and prioritize, like if I have a major school event, but exams or quizzes. I would put more of my energy into the extracurriculars, but if there was a major exam or test, I would know that comes first, and my extracurriculars will still be there for me when the tests are over. That still plays into college. I would assume that even after you graduate, you have to learn how to manage your schedule in order to succeed.
EE: What advice would you give to students who are more reluctant to get involved in the activities that are offered?
SZ: I think that the worst thing that can happen is that you don’t like it, and knowing that you don’t enjoy something is just as important as knowing you like something. I think that if you want to be involved, that is great and good for you. I want nothing more than for students at EHS to get involved. That is my biggest advice for high school students. If you are more on the reluctant side, try it out; there’s no harm in just trying. If you find a hobby outside of it, that’s the best thing that could happen.
EE: COVID-19 hit during your last year in high school and the first few years of college. What challenges did this experience bring, and how did you learn to cope with these difficulties?
SZ: A lot of people, COVID caught a lot of people off guard, and that caused a lot of mental health issues and burnout and feelings of isolation. Especially for my Class of ‘20, it was a very emotional note because we didn’t get to have things like a normal graduation or prom or Mr. EHS, things at EHS that are traditional. Those were opportunities that we didn’t get to have, but I think that brought us together, and we bonded a little more, even though we were so far apart. It was a bittersweet moment, and I got to get closer to the faulty. Also, because I was in the student council, I got to witness all the steps that the Board of Education, Mr. Ross, and all the administration at EHS tried to do and give to us. For example, Mr. Ross got a plane to fly across EHS during graduation, which said, “Congratulations Class of ‘20,” and teachers drove to our houses and handed diplomas with a bag of goodies. It was bittersweet, but you learn how to face adversity and tackle the next challenge.
EE: What good things, if any, do you think came out of this experience?
SZ: I definitely learned to be resilient, learn that not everything goes as planned, but that’s just another opportunity to try something new, be more creative, and keep your mind open to other possibilities.
EE: Was healthcare always the field you intended to work in? If not, what else interested you?
SZ: I always wanted to work in healthcare. In fact, during my middle school and high school route, I really wanted to go to medical school and become an OB/GYN because my passion was women’s health. I always knew that from the start. I had other hobbies, like music. I was in the band, and technology, like somewhere I wanted to go in but healthcare seemed more reasonable for me. I did not know that I wanted to go into pharmacy. I kind of decided to go to pharmacy school on a whim because I was so scared to be far away from home during the pandemic. I was familiar with the Rutgers campus, but I wasn’t familiar with pharmacy and what the profession entailed, but I knew it was in the healthcare field. It was a great program that Rutgers had, and I decided to just go for it.
EE: What advice would you give to the students here at EHS, and specifically the students who want to pursue a career in health care?
SZ: For the students at EHS, my biggest advice is to get involved and to ask questions. The faculty at EHS is so welcoming, and they are so friendly; you don’t get that everywhere you go. I can speak about my high school experience so positively compared to other people I know because I was able to develop relationships with my teachers. I love Ms. [Diane] Frey, Ms. [Gina] Corsun, Ms. [Jennifer] Pryzgoda, Mr. [Christopher] McKnight, and Ms. [Leanne] McKnight. They are all so willing to help at any moment, and I definitely would not know what to do without them. Just because I am a pharmacy major does not mean that I don’t utilize my other skills like writing, physics, and calculus. So they never leave you, and getting involved and making relationships, those are things that will help you build on material that you won’t learn in your classroom.
SZ: And, for the people who want to pursue a career in healthcare, you should always ask questions and stay curious. That’s the point of being a scientist: You always have to ask and try to find the next solution. There’s no reason to think that you are done learning. Even when you graduate, when you get a degree, when you get a job, you’re never done learning because science is a growing field. Things are happening every day, and new viruses are being discovered, new medicines are coming out. It is your job as a healthcare professional to be up to date with all the medications and all the new diseases in the world so you can do your job in helping patients be healthy and happy. Stay curious.