Title: Ashten Shope

Identifier: UA22.10.01.03   (https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/59982)

Description: From author: "For years I compartmentalized my feelings and lived a life fabricated by denial. I was always a star student and was heavily involved with medical internships, but I used it as a way to cope with being fractured by Gender Dysphoria. Once I got to college, I decided I wouldn’t continue to deny myself an authentic life. So, here I am today, having reclaimed my life and my future. I’m going to be a surgeon and now, for the first time, I can honestly say that I am whole and healthy enough to help people to the best of my abilities. Being Transgender does not define me, what I do with the life I have been given does." Ashten is a senior majoring in Pre-Medical Neuroscience and plans to attend medical school the Fall of 2018.