Jasmine Sampson finds her calling at the intersection of policy and patient outcomes
Jasmine Sampson listened to her heart when it came time to figure out what she would do with her life. She came to Clemson in 2021 on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic, undecided about what to major in but hoping to discover something to marry her mixed interests in societal issues and healthcare.
“None of my interests matched,” she laughs. “Other schools had health and society majors, and I was like, ‘Does Clemson have anything like this? That combines the societal factors with a health component?’”
Lo and behold, she discovered Clemson’s health sciences program at the end of her first year and was off to the races.
Discovering a unique path to medical school
Her ultimate goal is to become a doctor, but she decided to buck the normal pre-professional health expectations.
“It’s unusual to hear someone say, “I’m a health science major, and I plan to go to medical school,’” she says. “Most students wanting to be doctors major in biology or chemistry, but that’s not what I wanted to do.”
Sampson is an Honors student at Clemson and was also valedictorian of her high school class at Aiken High School, so it’s safe to say she will achieve whatever she puts her mind to.
Sampson took advantage of Clemson’s many opportunities to do experiential learning throughout her undergraduate journey. She was thrilled and surprised to get accepted into the Dixon Global Policy Scholars Program at the end of her freshman year.
Becoming a Global Policy Scholar in France
“I was shocked because I’m a health science major,” she says. Her cohort spent two weeks in France and experienced history and politics from a European perspective. It was a life-changing trip for her.
“That helped me pivot and say, ‘Okay, this is an avenue I want to go down,’” she says.
Working with a transitional housing program in Greenville as part of a required internship for her health science major inspired her to focus on the effect of housing insecurities on people who need healthcare.
Finding a focus
“That’s one of the areas I want to work in,” she says. “Because, depending on what your specialty is, you’re going to have patients who come in who are homeless or on the brink of being homeless, and the cost of everything is going up. If you have a patient who comes in that you have to amputate their foot or something like that, who’s going to wrap their bandages for them? How will you ensure they will return for a follow-up if they don’t have a cell phone? There needs to be policy and a plan in place to protect those people.”
Sampson maximized her time as an undergrad by getting involved with several student organizations like the CUSG Freshman Council, Peer Assisted Learning (PAL), Creating Habits and Norms Guiding Ethical Decisions (CHANGE), DreamCatchers, and the Counsel of Diversity Affairs (CODA), which is particularly near and dear to her.
She says joining CODA gives students exceptional opportunities to partner with and support the multicultural organizations on campus and help with events like Hispanic and Latinx Heritage Month, Black History Month, and the Middle Eastern Student Association’s Arabian Nights.
“You get to learn about different cultures at all of these events that we help plan or just attend, and it’s really helped me with intercultural competence,” she says, noting the Arabian Nights event was her favorite last year.
Growing through service
“The food was so good, and it was in a garden, with people of all different colors and backgrounds. It’s good to have those opportunities nearby because I love diversity. It means everything.”
Somehow, Sampson also found time to volunteer at the Cottingham Hospice House, an end-of-life hospice care facility in Seneca.
She says she has always been active, and Clemson offers a bounty of opportunities that are hard to pass up, so she had to be selective.
She says the one thing she’s most proud of from her time at Clemson was being a mentor to other students through the PAL program.
“It has been very cool to see students who are my students become PAL leaders themselves,” she says. “Being able to help freshmen figure out how to study and finding ways to make learning biology fun has been gratifying. I have met some of my best friends in PAL.”
Another thing she’s proud of is that she consistently challenged herself to step outside her comfort zone throughout her undergraduate career.
“I want to be a part of things that mean something to me, that I can put all my energy into and get a ton back from,” she says. “I’m glad I’m able to say, ‘No, I’m going to take this time to do things I haven’t done before and be in places that are uncomfortable for me, because that’s how I learned the most.”