Victoria Schaen is a third-year biology pre-med and developmental psychology student at the University of Maine. As well as double majoring in both of those fields of study, she is also minoring in neuroscience, microbiology and animal and vet science. Schaen strives to further her education while being in the Honors College, pushing her to take challenging courses.
She took on all of these educational opportunities simply for the pleasure and passion in her heart. “I started taking classes that piqued an interest, and then before I knew it, I became invested in every class,” stated Schaen.
Schaen transferred to UMaine from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in search of “a fresh start” and a substantial number of people to meet in college, where she has plenty of opportunities to make her forever friends. In her high school experience, she went to a tech school where she got her certificate to be a certified nursing assistant (CNA), which she has been to for seven years, adding to that long list of education to brighten her future.
Schaen applied to UMaine, hoping to be closer to her parents, who were moving here. At this time, she had told no one at her previous college that she was considering transferring. However, on the car ride to Maine, she applied, and not even a couple of days later, she found out she got accepted. Already, Schaen had made her mind up that she would be joining this community.
Before coming to UMaine, Schaen looked into Greek life and decided to join the sorority Delta Zeta, hoping to meet new people with similar interests. She ended up meeting her closest friends and now sisters with whom she lives with.
After formal recruitment into DZ, she quickly found a welcoming environment that would support her along with her life decisions. Soon after becoming a sister, she grabbed every opportunity that came her way to become vice president of academics in DZ as well as in the Panhellenic Council. With that title, Schaen looks over sisters’ GPAs to make sure no one falls behind, as well as creating study dates for sisters to come together and encourage each other in completing their studies.
“I am an academic mentor for any sister to come to when they need help for anything, but especially for school studies,” explained Schaen, as she has an extensive span of educational interests. She is also part of the Order of Omega, which is an honor society for Greek life for extra support and continuing that push to success.
Schaen’s busy day consists of waking up at 6 a.m. to prepare for her day of classes that start at 8 a.m. and go until noon with two classes to expand her mindset on specific sciences. Schaen then goes home to catch up on cleaning or studying or to sleep, as every busy student should maintain rest. She then goes to her next two classes until the day starts to come to an end. However, that is when Schaen breaks open the books to study or do homework in the library to prepare for her next day of another four classes.
After hearing how busy she always is, I asked Schaen how she prevents burnout from everything, to which she replied, “I think of what I am trying to pursue, and it keeps me going.”
Schaen’s plan after undergraduate at UMaine is to continue her education, hopefully at the University of Connecticut, for a year to get a surgical neurobiology degree. Then, after succeeding in that field, she plans on attending medical school to become an anesthesiologist, which supports her studies at UMaine but also shows everything she is working so hard for.
