Vidalia High student finds passion in biology

Published 12:00 am Thursday, April 30, 2009

VIDALIA — LeZerrica Ford can’t wait the end of the school year. That’s when she gets to go back to school — except this time, it’s college.

The 16-year-old Vidalia High School junior has been accepted into the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Program at the University of Louisiana-Monroe.

The full-ride scholarship program focuses on biology and chemistry, and she’s ready to get there, unpack her scalpel, scissors and forceps and do some hands-on biology research.

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But it wasn’t that long ago that she wouldn’t have even considered it.

“I didn’t want to do biology (at school) at all, because I didn’t want to look at the actual body parts,” Ford said.

That changed after a conversation with her biology teacher, Tim Herndon, though.

“I am a very squeamish person, and I said, ‘Coach, I don’t know if I can make it,’” Ford said. “But it wasn’t really that bad.”

From the simple dissection of crawfish in Biology I to the more complex dissections of frogs and sheep hearts and brains in Biology II, Ford came around.

“Now it’s my favorite class,” she said.

And that’s why Ford applied for the Howard Hughes program — she plans to start school at ULM in the fall of 2010 majoring in biology, with the ultimate goal of becoming an anesthesiologist.

She chose the medical field not only because she enjoys biology but also because she wants to make a difference.

“I always wanted to do something that is a big thing,” Ford said. “I don’t want to go to all that school and not have an impact on the world.”

Aside from getting to dissect animals and hands-on chemistry research, the program has an added benefit — college credit.

And with many years of college and medical school ahead of her, Ford said she’s glad to be getting an early start.

“When I go to college, I will already have the basics,” she said. “I will already be ahead.

LeZerrica is the daughter of Lee and Lucy Ford.