Lake Worth valedictorian found her life direction early
LAKE WORTH — If you know what you want to do with the rest of your life, there’s no such thing as an early start.
Even if you’re only in the ninth grade at the time.
Working with children was something Tuyanne Campbell knew she wanted to do — so much so that she enrolled in the Medical Academy at Lake Worth High School. Not only did that experience strengthen her dream, it helped focus it a little bit more.
“I have always known that I wanted to help with kids and babies,” Campbell said. “First, I wanted to be a pediatrician. As I went through the medical academy, I learned more about babies and women and decided I want to become an obstetrician/gynecologist.”
Campbell began volunteering at Bethesda East Hospital in Boynton
Beach during her freshman year. First, it was delivering food to patients. Then it was working the front desk. Now, she has graduated to the Labor and Delivery floor, where she prepares charts for the nurses and doctors and wristbands for the mother.
“It’s been great for me because I get to talk to the doctors and nurses about what they do,” Campbell said.
Those conversations have reinforced her dream, so Campbell will take her 3.9 (5.0 weighted) GPA and valedictorian status to the University of Florida, where she plans to major in biochemistry this fall before moving on to medical school.
If that sounds like a particularly busy next couple of years, there is no need to worry about Campbell. She is in the National Honor Society, the Medical Honor Society, Key Club, Senior Class club and track and field for a while.
But it’s the volunteering and helping other people that stands out the most, whether at the hospital or with Key Club.
“We’ve made peanut butterand-jelly sandwiches for another foundation for them to deliver to a shelter. We’ve been to a lot of walks for things like arthritis and mental illness and other causes that people are supporting,” Campbell said. “I just like helping people with the events and motivating them by showing support during the runs.”
Eventually, Campbell, who was born in Jamaica but moved here to live with her father and stepmother, is going to slow down enough to write her valedictorian’s address.
“I’m not completely sure what, exactly, I want to say,” Campbell said. “Mostly I want to thank all the people that helped me. Teachers and parents.
“My mom gave me the opportunity to come here to have a better life, even though she knew she wouldn’t see me for a long period of time,” she said. Q&A
What are your hobbies?
I like reading a lot. I like fantasy books like Percy Jackson and Harry Potter. I like watching movies more than I like watching TV shows. I like to watch lot of superhero movies. I also watch some other movies that are inspirational, movies that have a meaning behind them. I like shopping.
What would you do if you were invisible for a day?
I would probably go to somewhere I’ve never been because it’s somewhere different that I’ve never seen before. Probably somewhere like Hawaii. Everything would be free!
If you could have dinner with anyone in history, who would it be?
Michelle Obama. I think she is a really inspirational person. I don’t like watching the news, but I will watch the news when she is on, just to listen to what she is saying.
What is the best advice you ever received?
The best advice I ever received is that whatever you want to do, aim for it, don’t let others tell you it’s too hard or going to take too long. Don’t let them hold you back from your goals.
What event in history would you have liked to have witnessed?
I would like to have been there when Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech. It seems like a very impactful speech and I would like to be there in that exact moment when he said those words, just to see what the immediate reaction was.
What is your favorite childhood memory?
When my mom first took me and my brother to the fair. We went there and we went on all the rides. I remember that very vividly. I was probably about 6 or 7 and was still living in Jamaica.
Who is your hero, someone who inspires you?
My mother, Marsha Graham. She always tells me that she believes in me. That I can do it. She is my biggest motivator. She sacrificed sending me here with my dad and stepmother because she knew I could have a better life than what I could have had in Jamaica.