Nidhi Shah graduated with her Bachelor of Science degree in Radiological  Sciences on Friday, May 16th from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. She is 19 years old, the youngest Radiation Therapist to be employed. She graduated from Burlington High School in 2005 at the age of 16. In college, she was in an accelerated 33-month program. As a Radiation therapist, her job is to target cancer cells with high-energy x-rays. It is a form of cancer treatment- so she treats patients both physically and makes them feel better emotionally with her caring personality.

Nidhi feels she worked really hard and kept her goals high. “There is a clinical aspect and an academic aspect in the Radiation therapy program – my goal was to excel in both. I am not the most organized person, but I kept a reasonable list of things I had to complete that day, that week, that month, or that semester. This helped me keep up with everything for each class in college”.

On her advise to seniors entering college -College is very different from high school. You will be surrounded by people of similar caliber. It is harder to maintain the same grades that you maintained in high school. The main thing you have to do is balance work and play. Everyone has their own studying technique – just be sure that you stick to it! Also, do what you want to do when it comes to choosing a major. That’s what I did (even though it took much convincing)!

How did she achieve her goal ? “I prayed to God (a little more than usual) before exams (haha). My elders always said that if you work hard the first 25 years of your life in you education, it will make your future life that much easier. Words of advice and wisdom from my elders were always playing back to me in my mind when I was at school.

 My friends and family made me see my strengths and use them to fix my problems. My friends are amazing! College would not have been even a little bit of fun if it weren’t for them. We all helped each other when things got stressful with classes.

“I have gotten a job at Lahey Clinic in Burlington as a Radiation Therapist... I will start working in 2 weeks and its going to be a big transition. We had clinical rotations but working as an employee is going to be different yet exciting. For now, my focus is on gaining work experience. I love the type of work I will be doing. I love helping people. A patient with cancer feels so much physical and emotional pain, and treating them is so rewarding. With each paycheck, I am going to put some money aside and send it directly to a family in India for food and education for the kids. I am going to India this November and I will look into some schools to donate money.

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