June 10, 2008

When most children are asked the famous question "What do you want to be when you grow up," most people anticipate hearing such occupations as teacher, firefighter, or astronaut.

For Ashley Kalinski, however, there has never been much doubt as to her response to the question. "Since I was four years old, I wanted to be a neurosurgeon, although I'm pretty sure I called it a `brain doctor' then."

Aspirations of becoming a neurosurgeon are not the only thing the Garden City, Michigan native developed at a young age. Since she was four, Kalinski has been playing softball. Moreover, she has been learning Japanese since the second grade.

Kalinski has combined these passions and is a Biology and Japanese Studies double-major at Adrian College and is a member of the varsity softball team. Even though she just finished her third year at the College, Kalinski already had senior classification based on the number of credits she has completed so far and has maintained a 3.85 GPA. The double-major is no stranger to high academic standards as she graduated from high school with a 4.167 GPA and was in the top 10 graduates of her class.

It is by chance that Kalinski even decided to attend Adrian College. Having already enrolled at Grand Valley State University at the completion of her senior year of high school, she had heard about Adrian from her summer softball coach. She visited in July and was back in August for the start of classes for the fall semester. The size and atmosphere of the College allow her to play softball while also pursuing her future goals and ambitions.

"I'm majoring in two things that I really enjoy, so putting time into the classes is actually fun. Softball is my stress reliever."

With a spring plagued with uncooperative weather that caused several changes to the softball schedule, Kalinski was worried about how the rescheduling and make-up dates for the team would affect her school work. "My professors were incredibly understanding and willing to rearrange labs and assignments as much as possible. I think my professors did a great job."

The chance to play intercollegiate softball was something that was jeopardized early in Kalinksi's high school career. During the summer of 2002, Kalinski was sliding into second base during a softball game and was tagged in the chest. The force from the tag and the slide caused her sternum to break. By the time the next season came around, Kalinski was having recurring chest pains from nerve damage caused by the incident. Doctors did not know what to do to treat the nerve damage and suggested that Kalinski reconsider her athletic career. "Never once had it crossed my mind to quit playing," Kalinski commented. "That's a big part of my life, you don't just give that up."

Since her arrival on campus nearly three years ago, Kalinski has never looked back on whether or not she made the right decision. In addition to her aforementioned impressive GPA, the rising-senior has been inducted into the Alpha Chi and Beta Beta Beta honor societies while also garnering Academic All-MIAA accolades. Alpha Chi is an international honor society recognizing academic achievement and is restricted to the top 10 percent of members of the junior and senior classes of a member institution. Beta Beta Beta is the national biological honor society.

Kalinski knows she is on the right track in life. She has worked as a translator in the registration area at the Garden City Hospital. This most recent winter break, Kalinski had the opportunity to shadow a neurosurgeon for a day at the hospital.

Little did she know that she would be more than just a face in the crowd. Instead of merely sitting in the back of the operating room straining to see what was going on, Kalinski was asked to scrub in for surgery and be a part of the operation.

"I not only got to stand up next to the operating table, I actually held onto the instruments to assist in the surgery. Incredible is the only word I have to describe the experience. It just confirmed my desire to be a neurosurgeon even more."

Next fall, Kalinski will get to pursue a stronger education in her Japanese Studies major when she studies abroad in Japan for the entire semester. While studying in the island nation, she will be fully immersed into Japanese culture. Buddhism and calligraphy classes as well as two classes taught fully in Japanese will make up the academic workload for Kalinski. Students are placed into the classes taught completely in Japanese to ensure they are adequately prepared for the courses.

She hopes to return to Japan for a medical school rotation. Eventually, the double-major would like to work in the U.S. where there is a need for an M.D. who is fluent in Japanese since it is a language not many people speak on this side of the Pacific Ocean.

"Usually if you are a patient that needs to see a neurosurgeon, it is probably your last resort for treatment. I hope that I can be that surgeon that patients will feel confident in knowing that I will do everything I can to help them."