Wake Forest Women’s Soccer Players Preparing for Future
7/25/2024 10:32:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Following yet another successful season on the pitch, multiple members of the Wake Forest women's soccer team have taken great opportunities outside of soccer in the form of internships and shadowing.
Rising senior midfielder Emily Silva is spending the summer playing club soccer in Charlotte while shadowing a pediatric oncologist. That's just a precursor for juggling her final season of Wake Forest Women's Soccer in the fall while also preparing for the Medical College Admission Test.
"Fall season is soccer season, so I'll be going through that," Silva said. "I will unfortunately also be studying for the MCAT starting that fall season. I'll be taking it sometime in the winter, so the next few months will be just preparing for the MCAT, preparing for medical school and kind of a farewell tour at least in terms of soccer."
Although Silva graduated from Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School in Greensboro, she is hoping to land at a medical school in a larger city, so getting the opportunity to play for the Charlotte Eagles this summer gave her a chance to look for a medical opportunity to parlay along with the soccer experience.
"I basically just Googled every single Novant Health professional I could find," Silva said. "I just went on the internet, looked up all their names, all their numbers, and I just went down the list calling people. I had no connections in Charlotte. I had no idea what I was doing."
She struck gold when she was connected with Dr. Christine Bolen, a pediatric oncologist at Jude Affiliate Clinic at Novant Health Hemby Children's Hospital, who she now shadows two-to-three times a week.
"I shadow her just as she goes through patients, and she's honestly the best," Silva said. "She's so patient. She explains every diagnosis to me and tells me patient history, what they're going through and what their diagnosis is. And she explains it very well because obviously she has to explain it to parents, to kids, and so she's very good at her job.
"I'll shadow her at the clinic, and then I'll also shadow her at the Hemby Children's Hospital, which is right across the street, and she'll do her rounds there and I'll shadow her there as well."
Being around sick children was a little scary for Silva at first, but she's learned to appreciate the compassion and care delivered.
"It's very fulfilling to see," Silva said. "She says it's very fulfilling to see them grow up and obviously overcome it. And it's very inspiring to see these kids, so they have this sometimes for chemotherapy, they have this port on their chest and they have to get a needle stuck in their chest to get the chemotherapy. I remember when I first saw it, I was shaking. I was like, I'm not getting this port, and it looks scary, and these kids are taking it so well.
"It is inspiring to see the strength of these kids and the strength of the parents to go through all of that. And so I think it'd be very fulfilling to be a part of that process. And so I was thinking about going into pediatrics when I was thinking about what I want and specialize, and this really inspired me, at least this process so far."
Junior defender Allie Schmidt interned with Game On, a startup in Bradenton, Florida, that focuses on communication and leadership consulting for businesses, sports teams, and organizations. Fellow junior Alex Wood is currently wrapping up a summer internship with Allegacy Credit Union in Winston-Salem.
Nikayla Small finished an internship at Pennsylvania Manufacturers' Association in marketing and financial business, which you can read more on here.
Rising senior Anna Swanson made the most of her opportunity as a sales relationship management intern as well.
A senior trio of Laurel Ansbrow, Zara Chavoshi and Sophie Faircloth all had the opportunity to shadow a physical therapist.
A few players were able to shadow multiple professions throughout the break, as Emily Morris shadowed an OBGYN, orthopedic surgeon and dermatologist. Olivia Duvall, meanwhile, shadowed a breast cancer surgeon and medical oncologist.
