Outstanding students ready to make their mark
When Brooke Spitzenberger walks across the stage to receive her degree from Texas A&M University-Victoria this December, the moment will represent far more than the culmination of a bachelor's degree.
For her, it will stand as proof that perseverance, family and determination can carry a student through doubt and toward a life in medicine.
Spitzenberger, of Nursey, was named the Outstanding Undergraduate Student for the College of Natural & Applied Science. She will receive a Bachelor of Science in Biology on Friday, Nov. 19. The Outstanding Graduate Student is Mohini Gohel, and she will receive a Master of Science in Data Science.
Each semester, faculty from A&M-Victoria’s four colleges select outstanding students to be honored during commencement. The university will host four fall commencement ceremonies on Dec. 19 and 20 at the Victoria Fine Arts Center, 1002 Sam Houston Drive. The Friday ceremonies will be 2 p.m. to celebrate graduates from the College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences and then 6 p.m. for the College of Natural & Applied Science. The Saturday ceremonies will begin at 10 a.m. to celebrate the graduates from the College of Education & Health Professions, and the 2 p.m. ceremony for graduates of the College of Business. A live stream of the ceremonies will be available on the A&M-Victoria Commencement page.
"I am immensely proud of Mohini and Brooke for their exceptional intellect and work ethic," said Dmitri Sobolev, interim dean of the College of Natural & Applied Science. "They have distinguished themselves in the classroom and embody the very best of our mission and values. I wish them the best in their endeavors and can't wait to see what they will go on and accomplish."
When Spitzenberger first learned she had been selected as one of the Outstanding Students, she was filled with a mix of disbelief and gratitude. She knew she had worked hard balancing demanding coursework, research, community service and involvement in the Pre-Health Student Association, but she hadn’t imagined it would lead to such an honor.
“I was really surprised,” she said. “It felt good to know people believed in me, it just made me feel really good and proud of everything that I have done.”
With her eyes firmly set on a future in medicine, her ultimate goal is to one day become a doctor of radiology. That path started coming into focus during her younger years, when she began shadowing at a hospital in the Crossroads and encountered radiology up close.
“I really love the visual aspect of radiology and the patient care that I saw,” Spitzenberger said. “And it made me really want to help others.”
Her decision to attend A&M-Victoria was shaped by a strong desire to remain close to home. Originally from Nursery, she had always grown up in a small, close-knit family, she said. Choosing A&M-Victoria allowed her to pursue her academic ambitions while supporting her family through the transition she knows will come when she eventually moves away for medical school, she said.
“While I’ve been here at A&M-Victoria, it’s been wonderful,” Spitzenberger said. “The community is so close, and all the professors are willing to help. I’ve had so many wonderful professors that I could email anytime and they would just answer.”
One of the mentors who stands out in her memories is associate professor of biology Humberto Hernandez, with whom she completed multiple research paper projects. She also points to visiting professor Frank Jalufka, and Aleksandr Pikalov, former assistant professor of chemistry, for their ongoing encouragement.
As she prepares to take the next steps toward medical school and a career in radiology, she has a message for other students who might be doubting themselves while in school.
“College isn’t easy, but for anyone who may be struggling, don’t give up,” she said. “Whatever hopes, dreams, passions you have in your heart, I feel like they were placed there for a reason, so don’t ever give up. People are more capable than they think they are, they’re a lot smarter than they think they are, and you’ve got to be your own biggest supporter.”
For Gohel, the honor of being named the Outstanding Graduate Student marks the culmination of a long academic and personal journey that began with a Bachelor of Medical Science degree she received in India in July of 2013.
“When I worked in medical science, I began getting curious about how the system works,” Gohel said. “How the data works while we are taking the patient and giving the insight.”
That curiosity would eventually become a bridge between two worlds: medicine and technology. She then decided to come to Texas to pursue her Master of Data Science. Transitioning from medical science to data science is no small leap, but the environment of A&M-Victoria made it not only possible, but rewarding, Gohel said.
“A&M-Victoria has very good resources, good facilities and the support for my experiments and all,” Gohel said.
Her time as a graduate student at A&M-Victoria blended in-person and online class, which allowed her to balance her academic work with other responsibilities, she said. After graduation, her long-term ambition is to bring the power of artificial intelligence and data science to the world of healthcare, she said.
My goal is to work in this AI and data science field,” Gohel said. “Especially in areas where technology can really improve health, research and safety.”
Gohel’s background in medical science gives her a perspective that many technologists lack, she said. She understands not only the theoretical value of data, but also its real-world implications for patient care, research outcomes and public health.
As she prepares to graduate, Gohel said she is exploring opportunities in healthcare-related roles, with an eye toward positions where she can combine her clinical understanding with advanced technical skills. Looking back over the course of her academic journey, Gohel said it was first difficult to reinvent herself academically. Learning an entirely new discipline, especially one as mathematically and computationally demanding as data science, was a hill to climb, she said. But, thankfully, she didn’t have to climb that hill alone.
She credits the faculty, her classmates and her family with making the journey not just survivable, but deeply meaningful, she said. One faculty member in particular was Yun Wan, professor in the College of Natural & Applied Science and her husband, who works in higher education in Texas.
Now, as she prepares to step into a career at the intersection of AI and healthcare, she looks forward to the future with a determined optimism to use data-driven insights to advance health, research and safety for others.
“It was a beautiful memory being here at A&M-Victoria,” she said. “I thank everyone for helping me achieve my goals, especially my classmates, who really helped me to solve the problems. It was a beautiful time.”
Texas A&M University-Victoria, located in the heart of the Coastal Bend region since 1973 in Victoria, Texas, offers courses leading to more than 50 academic programs in the colleges of Business, Education & Health Professions, Liberal Arts & Social Sciences, and Natural & Applied Science. A&M-Victoria provides face-to-face classes at its Victoria campus, as well as online classes that students can take from anywhere. The university supports the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Opportunities for All initiative to increase awareness about state colleges and universities and the important role they have in providing a high-quality and accessible education to an increasingly diverse student population, as well as contributing to regional and state economic development.