Spring Lake high school graduate Maddie Rabideau is currently a third-year college student at University of Madison studying biology with a minor in global health. During her time there, she has worked in research as a lab assistant, and is currently Vice President of the Wisconsin Pre-Medical society. Maddie says she has really enjoyed her time so far living in Madison because there is always so much to do and the city is beautiful! Some of her favorite things to do are visiting coffee shops, hiking at Devil’s lake, and going to the farmer’s market in the summers as well as ice skating in the winter. She says that everyone there is super nice as well. At first, she was really nervous to move somewhere without knowing anybody, but now she feels she has been fortunate to have been able to move to Madison and meet so many new and great people.

While she is currently at UW, she actually stayed in Spring Lake going to MCC for a year to finish her early college program to finish her associate degree. During her final year of the program, she applied to various schools and was accepted into UW-Madison with a 4-year full-tuition scholarship “making the decision pretty easy” she says. She always knew that she had wanted to go to a large school to have the opportunity to meet all kinds of different people. She says, “At UW you get that in addition to having the chance to attend football, basketball, and hockey games all while being taught and mentored by some of the top professors and researchers in the country. I am so grateful for the opportunity to attend school here!”

Next fall, Maddie will be graduating and taking a half-gap year while she applies to Anesthesia Assistant programs. This is her current goal. But, she always tells people that AA’s are just like PA’s, but only work in the OR doing anesthesia. The programs span from 2-3 years in length to earn your Masters in Science of Anesthesia (MSA). She first learned about them while working at her job at the hospital where she works as an anesthesia tech. At her job, she works with anesthesia assistants, residents, and attendings to help set up for cases, assist in intubations and art line placements, and anything else the providers might need help with.

Maddie says during her time in college, she has learned the importance of plans changing. She thought staying home at MCC was hard for her because she felt like she was behind all of her classmates were getting the “college experience” while she wasn’t. She then also got sent home her freshman year which was difficult for her because she had felt like she had finally gotten to start experiencing “normal college.” Now, her plan has changed from going to medical school to wanting to go to AA school. While she has experienced college life quite differently from most students, she believes that all of these experiences have helped her to grow as a person and to care less about what is “normal.” She believes in putting less pressure on herself to constantly be achieving goals. She wants to focus more on enjoying life rather than just worrying about what is going to happen next. Maddie is now planning on applying to schools all across the country because she has enjoyed the experience of going somewhere totally new so much that she wants to do it again.

While Maddie was in high school, she played several sports including soccer, lacrosse, and swimming. She was also the co-captain for the swim team, the president of her class senior year, and a member of the Youth Advisory Council for the Grand Haven Community Foundation. She says that she is very grateful for the opportunities she had in those positions to work on projects I felt passionate about. Maddie has continued with these interests as she is the Vice-President of the Wisconsin Pre-Medical society and taking the extra step to get involved in research here at UW. She says that being involved in these activities has helped her to develop strong communication, organizational, and time management skills that have helped in her time in Madison and will be very useful for the rest of my life. Finally, something Maddie has realized that since leaving Spring Lake, the person you were in high school does not define who you are for the rest of your life. She would like everyone to know that she would encourage everyone in high school to take advantage of all opportunities so that you can to have diverse experiences and strive to continue to learn and improve upon yourself for the rest of your life because you have no idea where those opportunities might lead