Who am I?

My name is Mia McSheffrey, and I am a second-year student at Florida State University from St. Petersburg, Florida! I am majoring in Clinical Professions, and I hope to attend medical school and become a physician. This summer, I will be volunteering in Cusco, Peru, at a shelter for young mothers called Casa Mantay. This experience will take place over five weeks, and I am very excited about this opportunity! While this experience is not directly medical-related, it correlates strongly with my personal beliefs and goals. I have a passion for working with underserved communities, and I believe that working with young mothers in Peru will allow me to have more experience doing this. During my time in Peru, I hope to learn more about this populations’ access to healthcare and how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected this access. I am very interested in global health and public health, and thus I believe that this experience will help me learn more about each of these fields.

I hope to learn a lot this summer and grow my interests. I am also excited to experience a new culture for the first time. Peru has always been at the top of the list of places I wanted to visit, and I have been studying Spanish for the last seven years in preparation for a trip like this. Additionally, I look forward to volunteerism as a way to get to know and participate in this community. I am slightly nervous about traveling to a foreign place by myself, but I believe that I have been taking all the proper precautions in planning this journey, and now all there is left to do is go! Overall, I am looking forward to this opportunity, and I cannot wait to report back on my experiences!