{"id":12416,"date":"2015-12-09T14:57:26","date_gmt":"2015-12-09T19:57:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/college.unc.edu\/?p=12416"},"modified":"2024-07-02T16:09:09","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T16:09:09","slug":"ashley-thrower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=12416","title":{"rendered":"December graduate: \u2018Failure wasn\u2019t an option\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Thrower_Ashley<\/a>
Ashley Thrower and her daughter Ava pose for a graduation photo outside South Building. (Photo courtesy Ashley Thrower)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ashley Thrower came to Carolina for one reason: to get a college degree and become a physician.<\/p>\n

Even when she gave birth to her daughter Ava on Feb. 3, 2014 and the initial plan went off course, Thrower never strayed away from that goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told myself \u2018I\u2019m not leaving this state without both of those things,\u2019\u201d she said recently. \u201cI was determined and when I saw my daughter\u2019s face I said \u2018We\u2019re going to do this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The 22-year-old single mother is now half way to those goals as she prepares to receive her bachelor\u2019s in biology at UNC-Chapel Hill\u2019s Winter Commencement on Dec. 13.<\/p>\n

\u201cFailure wasn\u2019t an option,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t want my daughter to think that if something happens to her that\u2019s not in the plan that you just stop what you\u2019re doing and don\u2019t finish. I\u2019m not the type of person to start something and not finish it.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Thrower joins the more than 2,000 University of North Carolina graduating at the annual ceremony at the Dean E. Smith Center, she will be earning the degree she had been working toward since elementary school.<\/p>\n

A native of Miami, Thrower first fell in love with science after watching an ostrich egg hatch in her classroom. The experience left her fascinated with anything science-related and with the aspiration of becoming a marine biologist \u2014 or more specifically, a killer whale trainer.<\/p>\n

As her education progressed, though, Thrower began leaning toward a white coat instead of a wet suit.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I got older, I realized I couldn\u2019t form the type of interpersonal relationships and communications with animals like I can with people,\u201d she said. \u201cScience and serving people go well together, so why not pursue medicine?\u201d<\/p>\n

The pursuit first led Thrower to Florida State University\u2019s Department of Biological Studies. With a 3.5 GPA during her first year at FSU, she transferred to Carolina in 2012 for her sophomore year \u2014 a move she had long intended to make.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a different transition, but it wasn\u2019t hard because this is the type of life I\u2019ve always wanted to live,\u201d Thrower said of the transfer to Chapel Hill.<\/p>\n

Once at Carolina, Thrower continued to thrive in the classroom, and in 2013 she was accepted into the UNC School of Medicine\u2019s Medical Education Development Program, an academic preparatory summer program for disadvantaged students with an intensive curriculum that mimics the first semester of medical and dental school.<\/p>\n

The program, designed to give students an insight into the realities of medical school, was difficult enough. But midway through the program, Thrower was handed a challenge outside the classroom \u2014 she was unexpectedly pregnant.<\/p>\n

\u201cI messed up my life, everything is over,\u201d she recalled thinking. \u201cYou\u2019re going through a rigorous program, you\u2019re basically taking your first year of medical school in one summer. UNC School of Medicine is going to see these grades, so if I mess up, they\u2019re going to think I\u2019m not cut out to be in their medical school.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Thrower persevered and finished with a recommendation to UNC School of Medicine.<\/p>\n

Throughout the fall semester \u2014 Thrower\u2019s hardest course load at Carolina \u2014 she juggled classes with doctor\u2019s appointments and the biological changes of pregnancy. At the start of spring semester, she was nine-months pregnant.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told my teachers when the classes started that I could have this baby at any time, but I\u2019m going to stick this through,\u201d she said. \u201cEverybody kind of thought I was crazy because I didn\u2019t know what it meant to have a baby, I didn\u2019t know how to take care of a baby. I had never even changed a diaper before. But I held on.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Feb. 2, after not feeling well in class, Thrower took the bus to the hospital where she spent the night studying for a biochemistry exam \u2014 and awaiting labor. The next day, she gave birth to Ava.<\/p>\n

Less than a week later, Thrower was back in class \u2014 acing an analytical chemistry test just days after bringing her baby home. She finished the semester with a 3.7 GPA.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a lot,\u201d she said. \u201cI kind of got right back into it. I don\u2019t even know how. \u2026 It\u2019s definitely very difficult to be pre-med student and raise a child. You have to have really good time management skills.\u201d<\/p>\n

An understanding group of professors also helped.<\/p>\n

\u201cProfessors have really, really worked with me when it comes to me and my daughter,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019ve been understanding. I\u2019ve had professors let me bring her to office hours. I\u2019ve even had professors hold her. It\u2019s been really great.\u201d<\/p>\n

On top of classes and driving her daughter to daycare, Thrower was also preparing for the MCATS to apply for medical school \u2014 earning her way into UNC\u2019s School of Medicine.<\/p>\n

As Thrower now prepares to complete here undergraduate career at Carolina, she admits the journey was not quite as planned. But she said she wouldn\u2019t trade her experience for anything.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do feel I sacrificed opportunities to do things like study abroad,\u201d she said. \u201cBut the experience that I\u2019ve gained and the maturity and personal growth that I\u2019ve gained being a mom, I wouldn\u2019t trade that for anything. Not a trip to France or the Galapagos.\u201d<\/p>\n

By Brandon Bieltz, UNC Office of Communications and Public Affairs<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ashley Thrower came to Carolina for one reason: to get a college degree and become a physician. Even when she gave birth to her daughter Ava in 2014, Thrower never strayed away from that goal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":12417,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,19,17,18],"tags":[2097,24,1283,1282,37,1039,38,2098,39,40],"class_list":["post-12416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-carousel","category-diversity","category-natural-sciences-mathematics","category-undergraduate-education","tag-ashley-thrower","tag-carolina","tag-december-commencement","tag-december-graduation","tag-unc-arts-and-sciences","tag-unc-biology","tag-unc-college-of-arts-and-sciences","tag-unc-school-of-medicine","tag-unc-chapel-hill","tag-university-of-north-carolina-at-chapel-hill"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12416"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47539,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12416\/revisions\/47539"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}