Stephanie Veerman

Stephanie Veerman - Class of 2018

I've always been really enthusiastic and outgoing, but last year I got diagnosed with anxiety and panic disorder. All of the things that I used to love to do like singing and acting, especially in front of people, I would panic when I went out to do it. This was really different for me and I went into depression about it because this was always something I wanted. Acting was my escape. In college I wanted to be a theater major and my dream was to eventually be on Broadway. I went to New York this summer to see a Broadway show and I just didn't like it. I was really panicked the whole time and it was really weird for me because I didn't want that for myself anymore. This year it's been really interesting because I've been dealing with how to balance that I'm changing. It's been kind of sad but it's also been really eye-opening because I've always heard that people changed, but I never thought I would change everything, what I want to do in life, and my whole entire personality. I'm still happy and outgoing but I now want to go into the medical field and help people like this. I want to go into phycology and really study why this happens. Everything happens for a reason and I think this happened to because I can help other people with it, too.