{"671579":{"#nid":"671579","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Embracing Community","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ELizzie Wright was in 10th grade when she watched a TED Talk about controlling someone else\u2019s arm with your brain.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cIt got me thinking \u2014 we\u2019re all walking around, talking to people, moving our hands, and just kind of taking it for granted,\u201d she said. \u201cWe all have this brain and it looks pretty much the same on the outside, and has the same functions, yet we are all different. And we don\u2019t fully know why. I wanted to know why.\u201d \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EThat curiosity led Wright to Georgia Tech, where she graduates this week with a bachelor\u2019s degree in neuroscience, with minors in health and medical science and philosophy. She leaves behind a community that has become a defining part of her life. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EThrough \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/excel.gatech.edu\/home\u0022\u003EEXCEL\u003C\/a\u003E, Georgia Tech\u2019s postsecondary education program for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities, Wright mentored five students and later served in a leadership role overseeing the entire group of mentors. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cEXCEL taught me more than anything else,\u201d she said. \u201cI learned skills like how to budget because we worked on that together, how to manage my time, how to walk into new environments and approach joining new clubs and groups.\u201d\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EWright was also selected for Ramblin\u2019 Royalty in 2022, an honor bestowed on two students each year. Ramblin\u2019 Royalty students serve throughout the year at campus events and in other leadership roles.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cI was nominated by my sorority, which was very humbling. I always thought about the idea of applying based on previous winners and what I\u2019ve seen them do over the years, but I didn\u2019t want to get my hopes up. Going through the process made me realize how much I love Georgia Tech and how grateful I am for this place, and it gave me a tangible way to give back.\u201d \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EThrough Greek life, Campus Outreach, and the EXCEL program, Wright not only found a path for her career but a path for her life.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cI joined all three my first year and just never really needed to find anything else. They all taught me that the Tech bubble, though it\u2019s beautiful, there\u2019s so much more outside of Tech, and that perspective kept me going. We\u2019re all here for a reason, and that reason is to take what we\u2019ve learned and go forth into the world.\u201d\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EFor Wright, that means completing her EMT certification with Grady Hospital and applying to medical school. Her passion for global health and medicine was solidified during a summer in Ethiopia working on a medical mission. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cIt was my first full encounter with medicine. We were doing rounds one day, and the doctor I was working with came across this patient who had just had spinal surgery, but he had bedsores and needed to be lifted off the bed without having his spine compromised. Eventually, the doctor says, \u2018My kid has a bike. Let\u2019s take the tire off the bike, put it under his spine, and raise it so his skin can breathe.\u2019 So he goes home, disassembles the bike, sterilizes the tire, and configures it in a way that raises the person up from the bed. And it worked. And it was just because his kid had a bike.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cThat type of thinking \u2014 engineering thinking, even though I\u2019m a neuroscience major \u2014 is so cool because you just work with what you\u2019ve got.\u201d \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EThat unpredictability, and pursuing a career that could take her anywhere, is part of what drew Wright to medicine. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cThat\u2019s the reason I want to do EMT. You have no idea what you\u2019re walking into. You have your jump bag, your partner, and your knowledge. What are you going to do? How are you going to help this person before you can get them to the hospital?\u201d\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EAs Wright prepares for Commencement, she\u2019ll be joined by her family \u2014 including her brother Bishop, also a Tech graduate, who encouraged her to be a Yellow Jacket in the first place.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cHe really pushed me early on to realize this wasn\u2019t just a good school, but way more than that. Georgia Tech offers so much, but I would really advise most students to not just use it as a launchpad, but to acknowledge this place for the community it offers. I think that is key not only to enjoying the college experience, but really to seeing Georgia Tech for everything it has to offer and not waste these years.\u201d\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ELizzie Wright knew Georgia Tech was a great school, but had no idea the community she would encounter through her four and a half years.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Lizzie Wright knew Georgia Tech was a great school, but had no idea the community she would encounter through her four and a half years."}],"uid":"27469","created_gmt":"2023-12-15 02:33:55","changed_gmt":"2024-01-11 16:51:31","author":"Kristen Bailey","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2023-12-14T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2023-12-14T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"672592":{"id":"672592","type":"image","title":"Lizzie Wright","body":"\u003Cp\u003ELizzie Wright with her mom Shari and brother Bishop\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1702591608","gmt_created":"2023-12-14 22:06:48","changed":"1702610691","gmt_changed":"2023-12-15 03:24:51","alt":"Lizzie Wright with her mom Shari and brother Bishop","file":{"fid":"255861","name":"commenc-wright2.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/12\/14\/commenc-wright2.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/12\/14\/commenc-wright2.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":633577,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2023\/12\/14\/commenc-wright2.jpg?itok=mCYXEy_c"}},"672599":{"id":"672599","type":"video","title":"Embracing","body":"\u003Cp\u003ELizzie Wright knew Georgia Tech was a great school, but had no idea the community she would encounter through her four and a half years.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1702609435","gmt_created":"2023-12-15 03:03:55","changed":"1704491507","gmt_changed":"2024-01-05 21:51:47","video":{"youtube_id":"wxS2qUu7eZU","video_url":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/wxS2qUu7eZU"}}},"media_ids":["672592","672599"],"groups":[{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"192253","name":"cos-neuro"},{"id":"192259","name":"cos-students"},{"id":"192249","name":"cos-community"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:kristen.bailey@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EKristen Bailey\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EInstitute Communications\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}