Student Profile: Egyptian Émigré Finds Bastyr's Campus, Culture a Welcoming Second Home

Kiristin Sarkis has a tendency to end up in the right place at the right time. An émigré from Egypt, Sarkis and her family arrived in Seattle five and a half years ago on the same day America celebrates its independence. Her first experience in the U.S.: a night sky lit by fireworks, almost as if the whole Puget Sound celebrated her family's arrival. A few years later, just as she began looking into places to pursue her dream of becoming a doctor, she attended a friend's wedding in Bastyr University's elegant chapel. "I just fell in love," Sarkis says of the University's campus, a one-time Catholic seminary set on 51 acres of woodlands on the shore of Lake Washington, just 10 miles from downtown Seattle.

Through the lens of that experience, Sarkis, 21, has now fully embraced Bastyr. Having recently finished her first quarter as an undergraduate student in the health psychology program, Sarkis has already become a peer advisor — a mentor to prospective students — and has decided to also pursue a naturopathic medicine degree at Bastyr.

It's a life and career goal far from what she could have imagined for herself just six years ago. Raised in Tanta, a small city on the road between Cairo and Alexandria, Sarkis moved with her family to the Puget Sound when her Kiristin Sarkis' Family father, a Coptic Orthodox priest, took a position at a local church. At the time, she spoke little English and had only a vague idea of where to find Seattle on a globe. She was still a few years from being introduced to natural medicine.

"For me, coming from Egypt, there was a huge difference in language, culture, food, the school system," Sarkis says. "But I expected that it would be different, so I had a plan for adjusting." Her transition plan was equal parts immersion and ambition. Sarkis graduated from high school early at the age of 16, took English classes at a community college, volunteered at libraries and day care centers, and, most importantly, began searching for a medical school where she could fulfill her lifelong dream of becoming a doctor.

When she began her medical school search, Sarkis paid a visit to the large state school her sister attends. The trip was intended to be a fun exploration of what the university had to offer, but Sarkis found the sheer scale of the experience both stressful and overwhelming. It was then — remembering her trip to Bastyr's campus for the wedding — that she put Bastyr on her list of undergraduate schools to consider. "As I visited the Bastyr campus and met with admissions advisors, I started to feel relief — and hope," Sarkis says. "This is where I wanted to go to school. You get a serious education here, but the atmosphere is relaxed."

One of the things that sealed her decision: A week-long orientation and introduction to life at the University offered before the start of fall quarter to all new students. "Especially as someone who comes from another country, I really appreciated that," Sarkis says. "You get a whole week with fellow new students to learn how everyone is going to work together. You get to break the ice, and you get an introduction into the life you're getting into. All the fear of starting school just dissolved through the week. I didn't see that at any other school."

Then, shortly after making her mind up to come to Bastyr, Sarkis made another big decision: to not simply prepare for medical school through the University's rigorous basic sciences curriculum for undergraduates, but to become a naturopathic doctor at Bastyr. The choice was based partly on her experience working at a local doctor's office (she watched the MD she worked for have to return to work just two weeks after having a baby) and partly on Bastyr's educational environment. "One of the things you discover as you go to school is the healthy environment," Sarkis says. "With the vegetarian cafeteria, the culture here, the things you're taught in class, I'm finding I'm changing the way I eat and live. It's easier to make healthy changes when I'm in these surroundings." She also appreciates that "from the students to the faculty, it's like family here."

Perhaps that's why, in her role as a peer advisor, Sarkis has no problem telling prospective students "not to worry about coming to Bastyr — you're in the right place."

To learn more about our programs or to speak with a peer advisor from the program you are considering, contact the Office of Admissions at (425) 602-3330 or admissions@bastyr.edu.

Interviewed February 2009