Belong with SEU Student Highlight — Decision Day
When Sophia Musacchio, ‘25, is not studying flashcards or volunteering with SEU Health Services, she enjoys climbing trees and hanging out with her suitemates. As a Biology/Medical Sciences (pre-med) major and as an Honors student, Sophia says that although she reads and studies a lot, “I am the type of person to be stuck with my head in a book if I can, but the SEU community helps me find balance.” Connections and being aware of the people around her have been especially impactful.
SEU’s Pre-Med Program
When Sophia was considering Southeastern University as an option for school, finding one that would prepare her for success in medical school was important to her. She noticed how graduates from the BS in Biology/Medical Sciences (Pre-Medicine) program were accepted into respected medicine schools, including Harvard, Baylor, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine. Then when she received her award letter, she saw that her financial aid options were better at SEU than at other school locations. These facts, combined with a vision God showed her of a flame, led Sophia to feel confident in deciding to go with SEU.
A Passion for Medicine
Sophia also mentioned her passion for medicine as the motivation for the long hours of studying needed to be successful in her major. Growing up as a missionary kid in Guatemala, she saw children with visible differences and cleft palates who were excluded from learning opportunities. Sophia shared, “People said that they don’t look like they can learn, and they can’t speak correctly, so they can’t go to school.” When Sophia asked her mom about the children, she explained that each of them are children of God, and should be given the chance to have an education. She also explained that while doctors could perform surgeries to make improvements to the visible differences and cleft palates, the surgeries were usually too expensive for the families to afford. Soon after, Sophia saw a commercial for a nonprofit that provides these surgeries at no cost to families in need. This sparked a desire in her to help these children.
At the time, she was only in third grade, so Sophia could only help by being their friend. It was during her time with these children that she decided that she would dedicate her life to helping people from this population. Now, her end goal is to become a maxillofacial surgeon, and this passion and drive to fulfill her calling keeps her going even through her more difficult classes.
Learning Outside of the Classroom
While being in a content-heavy major means that learning can look like a lot of lectures, slides, and studying, Sophia has also learned so much outside of the classroom at SEU.
For example, she has learned the skill of budgeting by managing her Fire Funds (which are part of the campus meal plan). When she studied with her classmates and realized that they struggled with understanding some of the same concepts she did, it improved her relational skills by helping her realize she didn’t need to compare herself to others. She has also learned networking skills through her volunteer work at the SEU Health Services office, which is connected to Lakeland Regional Health.
Finding Community
Sophia also finds value in how her professors care about her as a person. “Recently, I was having a rough day and one of my professors stopped me in the hallway and just prayed for me. That was a huge blessing, to know that they care so much about their students individually, that they are willing to stop whatever they’re doing and pray for us.” This feeling of community and spiritual formation also facilitates Sophia’s ability to learn. She shared that her professors, “truly care about who we are, and who we’re going to be.”
This dynamic helps Sophia to not define herself by her grades, which would be easy to do in similar programs at other schools. “I feel like I am becoming a more well-rounded person at SEU, and that is going to benefit me in the future. It’s so encouraging to me, because it reminds me that God sees me. I’m not just a number, or paper with a GPA.”
Decision Day is May 1!
Want to join students like Sophia and learn with SEU, too? Visit SEU.edu/withSEU to take your next steps and discover more about how you Belong with SEU.
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Written and edited by SEU student Elizabeth Grainger
