Sexton

LINCOLN — When she was younger, Lincoln High School valedictorian Alexandra Sexton said if there was a show about doctors, she watched it. If there was an exhibit on the human body, she wanted to see it.

Now that she has graduated from high school, she’s keeping true to form.

Sexton plans to major in biology, with the idea of becoming a physician’s assistant. Like her selection of a college, she went into the process of setting a career goal with some general ideas, but her research led her to a slightly different conclusion.

The conventional choice would be to go premed and then medical school to become a doctor. But Sexton said besides looking at biology programs in pondering her post high-school educational career, she also consulted with women who were doctors and asked them for advice.

“I talked to some female doctors and they said being a woman and being a doctor you have to sacrifice a lot and I’m a big family person,” she said. “I want to get married and have kids.”

A physician’s assistant would give her the most of both worlds, she said. Professionally, as an assistant, she would be able to work with patients directly and still have her own life too.

It was sort of the same process when she started making her plans for college. Sexton said at the start the only thing she knew for sure was that she didn’t want to stay in Rhode Island. She put together a list of colleges and universities around the country that had the kind of programs she was interested in.

“When I first started my college search, I didn’t want to go to Providence College,” Sexton said. You could say that she said that with a laugh, but she says everything with a laugh. “But my parents said I had to pick one school in the state.”

So with an oh-well, all-right, if-you-say-so attitude, she said she added it to the list, to make them happy. But Providence College’s stock rose significantly when the school offered her scholarship.

“I was happy about it,” she said. After touring the campus, she said the place started to grow on her. She liked the science facilities, and she theorizes that a new cafeteria means the food will be good too.

“I just fell in love with it,” she said. “It is such a down-to-earth school.”

jhill@projo.com