Aliyah Blackman '23
BS Psychology, minor in Chemistry
Pronouns: she/her

Where are you originally from?
I am originally from Flatbush in Brooklyn, New York. 

How did you hear about Stony Brook University?
I heard about Stony Brook through my Earth Science teacher in high school. I was originally going to attend a CUNY school, but after looking into SBU's program - I found it a lot better for my career path in healthcare. 

Favorite Class:
Definitely the organic chemistry sequence, CHE321/322/327 - it was very satisfying for me to finally understand how mechanisms worked and understand the tricks to solve problems. Organic Chem lab was also another interesting and fun course I took in the winter that pushed me to work individually through experiments.

Greatest Achievement:
My greatest achievement is despite coming from a high school that offered no APs, nor chemistry/physics/biochemistry courses, I was still able to catch up to the fast-paced college-level STEM courses that terrified me at first. I always worried that I wasn’t smart enough or that I would fall behind due to my disadvantage of not taking these courses prior to college. However, I was able to succeed and did very well! 

Plans for post-graduation:
I will be taking a gap year prior to starting medical school and will be working as either a medical scribe or medical assistant! I would love to gain more patient-care experience. 

Career aspirations:
I plan to become a doctor and give back to people and communities that are unable to receive healthcare or cannot afford it. By doing so, I wish to increase the resilience of whatever community receives my care. 

Clubs and organizations:
I am a part of the Watsi Club, Guyanese Student Alliance, and also co-founder and president of the Center for Black Philanthropy (CBP). I am very proud of CBP as it was the first club on campus to focus primarily on raising funds and increasing social capital for impoverished Black communities. I found it important to create this club to focus on this specific community as being raised in Flatbush I experienced and witnessed the regional inequalities firsthand. 

Advice for potential Seawolves?
One piece of advice I would give to potential Seawolves is that it’s okay to not know what you want to do for the rest of your life– embrace the journey. I changed my major four times while I attended SBU because I wasn’t certain about what I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing. However, I found that despite being unsure through parts of my undergraduate journey, I was able to thoroughly decide that the pre-medical path was best for me as it aligned with my goals and dreams best. I am excited about the next part of my life and glad I was able to experiment with different possibilities.