Thursday, December 12, 2024
SENIOR SPOTLIGHT: Future Surgeon Overcame Obstacles to Plot New Course
Nicole Everitt stands by her Research during the UNT Dallas Student Research Symposium
Nicole Everitt’s first attempt at college didn’t go well. In 2007, fresh out of high school, the Michigan native enrolled in a small private university in Ohio. She’s partially deaf, and transitioning from her small high school to a large auditorium was difficult. She didn’t have access to the tutoring and accessibility resources she needed.
Fast forward 17 years, and the 35-year-old mother of six will graduate Summa Cum Laude
from the University of North Texas at Dallas (UNT Dallas) on December 17. She will receive a bachelor’s degree in biology with
a minor in chemistry. Everitt is currently applying to medical school and plans to
become a surgeon.
Nicole Everitt Reviews Her Research Into Quantum Mechanics with a Classmate
“Coming back to school was a matter of conviction,” she said. “I look at my success now, and I’m thankful that I took that time and found my bearing. I worked on who I am and who I wanted to be and homed in on that.”
Everitt withdrew from her first college as a sophomore in 2009. She got married, had her first child and moved to Arizona. As her family grew, she homeschooled her children while running a small business and taking up hobbies like crocheting and woodworking. A pull toward education remained, however. In her spare time, she read scientific journals, learning about everything from biofilm formation to the role of certain vitamins in heart disease.
In 2016, Everitt and her family moved to Dallas, where her husband took a job with the Carrollton Fire Department. Although it was a significant change, she had family in the area, which helped. Combined with her husband’s flexible work schedule, she began to daydream.
“That was the moment that I started to think about what we could do with our lives,”
she said. “I started to think about what I would do if I could do anything.”
A Science Lab Where Nicole Everitt Worked Diligently Toward Her Biology Degree
Science was the answer, and Everitt began looking at nearby medical schools. She’d always told herself she would return to college after her last child was born. In 2022, when her youngest was only a baby, she enrolled at UNT Dallas.
A few factors led Everitt to UNT Dallas. She was drawn by its affordability but soon found that the school offered the small class sizes and accessibility resources she needed to succeed. She also loved that classes are taught by faculty members, not teaching assistants.
Still, her decision to start school wasn’t easy. Everitt’s youngest son had to be hospitalized eight times over 16 months due to complications with his blood sugar. For her other kids, the shift from homeschooling mom to college student was quite an adjustment. But regardless of the challenges she faced at home, she knew her professors would support her.
“There was never a moment where I was genuinely concerned that we would not be able
to make something work,” she said. “I felt like they were always very helpful, understanding
and willing to go the distance with me, which I was glad for.”
Nicole Everitt with Her Husband and Six Children
Everitt describes her second go at college as an adventure. She is methodical and well-prepared, which has contributed to her success. For instance, she always wanted to be a doctor. But as a child with a hearing disability, she didn’t feel that medicine was a place where she would fit in. She’d certainly never seen a physician who was hearing impaired.
However, watching medical technology like Eko stethoscopes and hand-held transcription tools advance inspired her to go for it. It was time to see if this dream she’d sat on for years would finally come true.
“It was always science, and it was always healthcare,” Everitt said. “These were the things I always came back to, and they always brought me joy.”
At UNT Dallas, Everitt has also applied her adventurous attitude toward research.
Working with Dr. Richard Chandler, Program Coordinator and Associate Professor of
Mathematics, she has been analyzing a mathematical structure that appears in the study
of quantum mechanics. The research uses geometry to identify features like angular
momentum and particle spin that could be helpful to physicists.
Nicole Everitt Explains Her Research Into Quantum Mechanics to UNT Dallas Interim President Dr. Warren von Eschenbach
Everitt has presented her research at the Texas Tech University Research Conference (TTURC) and the UNT Dallas Student Research Symposium. She also had the privilege of explaining it to the UNT System Board of Regents when they met at UNT Dallas earlier this year. Although the research is “pure math,” Everitt can’t help but think of ways the work might be applied, such as using artificial intelligence (AI) to map tumors previously thought to be inoperable.
VIDEO: Watch Everitt's Remarks About Her Research at the Board of Regents Meeting at 8:15 on This Clip
Such high-level thinking is one reason Chandler selected Everitt for the research project. He has also been her mentor in the Louis Stokes Alliances Minority Program (LSAMP). “(Everitt) holds herself accountable and takes responsibility for her own learning,” he said. “She takes her time to digest the material, identify the gaps in her understanding, tries to fill those gaps through self-study, and then seeks help when necessary. This skill is a sign of great maturity in an undergraduate student.”
Chandler also said that Everitt fosters learning communities and collaborative learning
among her peers through study groups and as a peer-leader for her classmates. He points
to her empathetic and caring nature as one reason she excels, in addition to her time
management skills. Outside classes and her family, Everitt works on-campus as an organic
chemistry tutor and as a newborn hearing screener at Methodist Charlton Medical Center.
Nicole Everitt Holds a Model of a Molecule in the UNT Dallas STEM Center During a Tutoring Session
Everitt is now awaiting news on medical school and hopes to begin classes in the fall of 2025. As she looks toward her future, she encourages UNT Dallas students to take advantage of the resources available to them. Mental health services, learning communities, tutoring, accessibility support services — all these exist to help students succeed.
Such resources are a critical reason Everitt’s second shot at college was a winner. Despite how long it took her to reach commencement — and the challenges she faced along the way — she never doubted that she was on the right path.
“It’s been so fun,” she said. “Most days don’t feel like work. And even when they do, I feel I’m right where I’m supposed to be.”
From UNT Dallas – Students