Sobrato students chose career path so he can help people in their time of need

By Josef Moser

I can picture myself 12 years from now, part of a focused team of physicians working side by side in a hospital operating room. There I am, administering anesthesia while offering reassurances to a patient about to undergo surgery. I monitor and assess the patient’s vital signs to ensure their breathing, heart rate and other functions stay within the expected range throughout the procedure. I continue to watch over the patient as they come out of anesthesia during post-op recovery.

For complex and routine surgeries, my ability to move patients safely into and out of an anesthetized state will be critical to the surgical team’s success. It’s a role I’ll be proud to take on.

As I write this my senior year at Ann Sobrato High School is coming to a close. The COVID-19 crisis has given all of us a lot to think about, especially students like me who want to become doctors.

I chose this career path so I can help people in their time of need. Being an anesthesiologist is an extremely admirable profession that requires a lot of education and training and comes with many challenges, but I am committed to this goal and I’m not one to back down from challenges.

Facing life’s challenges can feel like the worst nightmare or the best opportunity. Either way, the process of working through them shapes us into becoming better and succeeding.

For me, those challenges have included years of extreme neglect and custodial issues at home. My response was to maintain my determination and get the best possible education so I could reach my goal.

During my four years at Sobrato, I took 12 AP classes and maintained straight A’s to earn a cumulative GPA of 4.68 and the honor of salutatorian of the class of 2020.

This fall I am looking forward to starting my freshman year at the University of California, Berkeley, where I am pursuing a degree in biology. My goal from there is medical school, followed by an internship, residency, and a fellowship to prepare me for a career in anesthesiology.

As an anesthesiologist I will be able to assist and comfort my patients and their families through medical procedures and let them know everything will be great.

Recently I read “Counting Backwards: A Doctor’s Notes on Anesthesia” by Henry Jay Przybylo, MD. Przybylo shared many stories about his personal experiences during 30 years of practicing anesthesiology.

I found his book to be incredibly motivating and concluded that the bond between doctors and patients is extremely important in order to make sure they are comfortable throughout medical procedures.

In his book, Przybylo wrote: “Luck is for sports and betting. Mine is a world of skill.” I imagined him saying this to a patient’s family to reassure them their loved one would receive good care.

I want to be able to care for people in their time of need and comfort them in this same way, even in times of crisis like the current pandemic. At the end of my career, I want this to be my legacy.

My honor of salutatorian comes from having achieved the second highest academic ranking in the class of 2020.

Only the valedictorian did better. Traditionally, the salutatorian gives the opening remarks and introduces the valedictorian at the graduation ceremony.

US News & World Report ranked Sobrato in the top 7 percent of the Best High Schools in California and the nation based on performance on state assessments, graduation rates, and preparing students for college.

Josef Mosher is one of hundreds of seniors in the class of 2020 at Ann Sobrato High School who were forced to finish high school virtually from home. He wrote this for Morgan Hill Life.