Mikayla Weron

“Going into PA school, they want to see that you’ve been exposed to [the field] and you know this is the route you want to go, and you’ve been immersed in the healthcare field."

-Mikayla Weron

Mikayla plans to attend graduate school and become a physician assistant after graduation. When she isn’t studying, Mikayla enjoys hanging out with her friends, going to Pizza Pit, and volunteering. 

Mikayla Weron prepares with professional, campus involvement on road to graduate school

Mikayla Weron knew she wanted to go into the medical field, but didn’t want to commit to one specialty or many years in medical school. After talking with her uncle, who’s a surgeon, she developed a career plan that best suited her interests: becoming a physician assistant.

To become a physician assistant (PA), Mikayla will attend graduate school after college and become certified after about two years. She will be able to choose her focus from up to 12 specialty options. Some specialties she’s interested in right now include dermatology, neonatal care, and geriatrics. 

Mikayla has been putting in the essential work to succeed in graduate school and beyond. One of the ways she has prepared herself is by becoming a certified nursing assistant (CNA) to gain more hands-on experience in a medical environment.

“Going into PA school, they want to see that you’ve been exposed to [the field] and you know this is the route you want to go, and you’ve been immersed in the healthcare field,” Mikayla said. “So that’s what being a CNA [does] — you work with the patients one on one and see their medical routes.”

Mikayla was a CNA at NHC Healthcare Franklin in Franklin, Tennessee, and has a position lined up for spring 2020 at Northridge Village retirement community in Ames.

To add to her hands-on experience, Mikayla is at the forefront of many clubs and activities for medical professionals at Iowa State University. Some of these include the Kinesiology and Health Club, the Pre-Physician Assistant Club, and the Neurophysiology Research Lab, working with patients who have Parkinson’s disease.

All of these activities help Mikayla develop her professional and communication skills, and the Kinesiology and Health Club has allowed her to become a leader in a field that she’s interested in. Becoming a club member as a freshman, she then transitioned to philanthropy chair, and now she is president of the club. As president, she is an essential resource for her peers as they also prepare for graduate school.

“I help facilitate people in the building of people’s resumes as much as possible before they apply to grad school,” Mikayla said.

Mikayla is ready to incorporate all she has learned and experienced at Iowa State, and further grow once she begins graduate school. She’s excited to learn what goes into deciding a medical diagnosis and applying her knowledge in real life every day.

“I’m most excited to learn things that I’ll use in the field,” Mikayla said.