A 22-year-old Towson biology major’s journey brought her to a deeper purpose

Set to graduate later this year from Towson University with her bachelor’s degree in biology and a minor in physics, 22-year-old St. Jules has developed an interest in the fields of medical devices, prosthetics and orthotics. This passion wasn’t always present in her journey, however.

“I initially started college as a physics major because I wanted to go into civil engineering. But civil engineering just wasn’t the right fit for me,” said St. Jules, who shared that she grew up in hospitals due to her mother’s health battles. “I feel like I discovered that my goal in life is to help people and, like, to change the world in some type of way.”

The Hill-Lopes scholar and calculus tutor didn’t change her major until last semester, around the same time she was working three jobs and taking 19 credits. Then, she realized that she may want to go to grad school for prosthetics or biomedical engineering.

“I’m still teetering between the two because prosthetics is more clinical and biomedical engineering is more research-based,” said St. Jules. “This summer, I’m going to be doing a research-based internship. So we’ll be testing the waters for that to see what I decide for when I graduate.”

St. Jules’ mom passed away due to breast cancer when she was a sophomore at Paint Branch High School in Montgomery County, Maryland. She learned lessons about cancer in high school and through organic chemistry, genetics and biodiversity courses at Towson that helped her flow through life — all while knowing that she wanted to pursue a bigger purpose.

“I feel like [in] switching from physics to biology, I see a whole different perspective of science,” said St. Jules. She added that physics was more analytical for her while biology has been more conceptual. “I feel like I’m swimming in biology.”

Her flow will likely come in handy during her role as a molecular biology lab intern at MilliporeSigma, a global science and technology company with roots in Montgomery County, this summer.

“I feel like I’m just flowing through my interests,” said St. Jules. “I don’t know, I feel like I just want to start off, like, dipping my toes in.”

She said that she applied to the biology lab to gain experience in professional biology settings, as she only knows the academic route so far. Her aim this June through August will be to explore whether research-based jobs suit her.

Despite facing challenges related to her mother’s health during her upbringing, and eventually experiencing her loss, St. Jules maintained a sense of childlike curiosity. She fondly recalled a science day in second grade when her class was told to predict the outcomes of mixing various substances, thus igniting her interest in chemistry from a young age. This curiosity was further fueled by her existing habit of experimenting with mixing items like lotion, soap and ketchup at home.

“My teacher, she realized, like, ‘Wow, Aaliyah, you’re so good at this,’” said St. Jules.

She ended up being two years ahead in math courses for the rest of her schooling because of this recognition from her educators.

St. Jules’ teachers also pointed out that she was good at art — another skill relevant to her current life since she works at a prosthetics clinic in Towson. She’s finding her clinical experience to be quite artistic.

“It’s just crazy how we use a lot of things from Home Depot and crafts, or we use glue and drills and all these things,” said St. Jules.

“I feel like STEM, yes, there’s a lot of hard skills, but I feel like it’s such a creative field,” she added. “You can be creative in your research presentations or, just, the research that you set out. It’s art for me.”

After graduation, St. Jules plans to move further north to Boston, which she first visited last year. But before that, she plans to live at home and save money. Despite how much a school like Towson University can cost, St. Jules offered a word of advice for her peers and anyone who might be worried about student debt.

“I checked, and I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, that’s a lot of money,’” she said. “But I feel like I try not to worry about things I can’t control.”