TIFFIN, Ohio — Kenzie Caldwell is laying a path to the future. The Hopewell-Loudon student was secretly nominated to take part in the Congress of Future Medical Leaders next summer, a program in Boston that aims to give young people experience in the field.
"(At) first I was very shocked and I was super excited," the eighth-grade student said. "I had told my little sister and she was so excited."
The congress is an honors-only program for students who are interested in the field of medicine and being a physician.
"I want to go into the labor and delivery partner of the medical field and I always just liked working with babies and playing with them," Kenzie said. "I think it would be really cool to help new mothers process and learn the ropes."
The more than 5,000 students invited go through a GPA screening process and get the opportunity to hear from the world's leading medical practitioners.
Kenzie has a 3.8 GPA and her English teacher last year, Roger Jury, believes she is the perfect pick.
"Her communication skills are tremendous, especially for her age now. I can't imagine what they will be when she's older," Jury said. "Her caring for is unbelievable. Her dedication herself. She's going to do things, right? Especially in those types of professions. You want to make sure people know what they're doing and they do things right. "
Jury added that Kenzie was one of the most driven students he's had.
"She was a leader in the class even though she was a seventh-grader," he said. "Very dedicated, always wanted to get her work done. She would ask a lot of questions, she always wanted to be successful and do as well as she possibly could do."
Kenzie is nervous about attending the conference, but also excited to have such an amazing opportunity at such a young age.
"It starts early and just follow your dreams, because something that looks so unreachable like Harvard," she said. "I now have the opportunity just because I worked hard and believed in myself."