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Janiece Kelly

Biography

Janiece Kelly says she always thought her future lay in the fine arts. Growing up, she loved creative writing and art, and as a Young Scholar she studied violin and dance. In the summer after tenth grade, however, Janiece took a pharmacology course “as a completely new experience.” By the end of the three-week program, she had decided to go into medicine.

“I realized that I was ignorant to how much truly needed to be improved in the medical field, that there are still diseases without treatments,” she says. “My entire way of thinking was suddenly turned around.” Inspired by her peers at a Young Scholars Week, Janiece enrolled in a medically-focused high school for eleventh grade.

“Changing career choices from the arts to medical science halfway through high school may seem like a foolish decision to some, but I was used to change,” she says. As a child, Janiece moved often with her mom and five siblings, which taught her to be flexible and to embrace change. Now, Janiece is focusing her studies on math and biology with plans to pursue a degree in biomedical engineering in college. But she still nurtures her love for the arts by continuing to dance and to study and teach violin.

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