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Transfer student Miracle Holder stepped onto NC State’s campus with intention, a clear path to her goals ahead of her.

“My ultimate goal is to be a physician,” said Holder. “I want to take what I learn within medicine and use it to impact underrepresented and underserved communities. I want to bridge the gap between them and medicine.”

With the road to becoming a physician ahead of her, Holder settled into her human biology courses. But her seemingly endless curiosity began to steer her toward new passions. Learning about how foods are labeled during a nutrition class sparked a new interest — and soon she’d added a nutrition minor to her course load on top of her biological sciences major. Then she added a minor in Spanish, because immersing herself in the language helped her foster connection with patients at her job as a phlebotomist.

Soon, she found herself in the front row of an African diaspora course, because her Spanish classes inspired her to explore her own history. Staring wide-eyed at the board during class, her professor asked, “Why do you look like that?” and she replied, “I just didn’t know any of this!” It wasn’t long before she’d added African studies to her list of minors.

Holder’s love for learning brought her straight to the cross-section of humanities and science, helping her see her goal to become a doctor through an entirely new lens.

“The humanities courses were a way for me to not just see people as a sickness, a diagnosis. It allowed me the opportunity to step back and get a whole other perspective, to learn more about people and culture. Because you’ll find out that a lot of certain things that [people] eat or do ultimately leads back to their culture,” said Holder.

Her move from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro to NC State was driven by wanting to be closer to her family during the COVID-19 pandemic. Acclimating to a large university post-pandemic was jarring, but Holder jumped at the chance to build community and find her favorite spaces on campus. She became a mentor in the Career Development Center, a member of the Spanish Club and found the best place to study (and sometimes nap) on the fourth floor of D.H. Hill Jr. Library.

As the student commencement speaker, Holder plans to reflect on the resilience and growth that is shared across the entire class of 2023 — from adjusting to learning online and then returning to campus, to creating new communities and forging stronger connections.

“Those events were tough, but they didn’t weaken us, they actually made us stronger. We found our Pack, we came together and we actually became stronger through those circumstances,” said Holder.

“You can’t forget about the people that helped you along the way, that were there for you,” said Holder. “I call it your ambassadors, network, board of trustees. I have my little board of trustees, my people.”

Holder credits her family, especially her mom — a first-generation college student and teacher — with supporting and guiding her to NC State. She plans to get in as much family time as she can over the next year while studying for the MCAT and applying to medical school.