Savannah Jones knew she wanted a career in health care ever since she was a child.

Her mother, who suffered from diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, required consistent medical care, and Savannah saw how those medical workers helped make her family’s world a little bit easier.

Now, Savannah is a PA student. The 23-year-old Springfield, Ill., native is an HHS graduate, a former CHS student ambassador and a former undergraduate research assistant in the Center for Muscle Biology. 

She says that when you know you want to help people, but you just aren’t sure how, there’s one path to take: Human Health Sciences.

Savannah Jones, PA-S:

"I remember going to a couple of info sessions about HHS and about the College of Health Sciences overall, and they showcased how you can get with people to shadow, and they wanted to help you feel out these different professions before you decided to study them.  

They would always emphasize that you would learn about different professions. That was a big factor for me. And we had these small classes where we could really get to know our professors and ask questions. I still say hello to them when we pass in the hallways.

But I don’t think I knew what a PA was in high school or middle school. I just knew I wanted to do healthcare. And I thought that you either had to be a doctor or a nurse.

So there was one specific class in HHS they make you take first, very first semester, where they have a lot of different professions come in. You’ll hear from a pharmacist one day, and a doctor another day. You’ll hear what their process was like through school, and what kinds of things they do on a daily basis. There were a lot of these different people who came through, and you could decide what you liked the most.

I decided on PA and I am loving it.

HHS is such a family. They really like to work with you to see what you’re interested in and where you want to go. A lot of times, college students don’t know what they want to be. But even from your freshman year, they’re setting you up for success. They want to see you do well, which is why they provide these opportunities.

I don’t think I would’ve found PA without Human Health Sciences."