Laura Calkins ‘08

Looking back at her high school years at Oakcrest, Laura Calkins ‘08 sees that the liberal arts education she received has provided her with a well-rounded perspective on life and has encouraged her to find her passion and pursue it relentlessly. Certainly, in her own life she has done so. 

One particular Oakcrest class that influenced Calkins in the years to come was Mrs. Deiss’s theology class, even though she said she didn’t realize it at the time. When she started at Oakcrest in the seventh grade, Calkins wasn’t Catholic, and as she delved deeper into the theology classes at Oakcrest, she questioned what she believed and sought answers. “Mrs. Deiss’ theology lessons were a foundation that helped me to eventually understand the truth and beauty found in the Catholic Church,” Calkins said. “During my freshman year of college, I entered into the Catholic Church at Easter, receiving the sacraments of Confirmation and the Eucharist.” 

After her graduation from Oakcrest, Calkins attended George Mason University where she received her Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and began volunteering with Fairfax County Fire Department. She earned her EMT and paramedic certifications as a volunteer and after graduation became a career firefighter paramedic in Fairfax County. “This job was phenomenal,” she said. “I learned more as a firefighter paramedic than I could possibly try to describe.” 

After an ankle injury, Calkins applied to Physician Assistant (PA) school, starting the program just one semester before the first pandemic lockdown. She graduated from the PA program with a Masters in Physician Assistant Studies from Indiana State University and will begin PA Surgical Residency at Duke University in the Fall of 2022. 

Her PA program at Indiana State allowed Calkins to set up her own clinical rotations throughout the country. “I took full advantage of this, which opened the door to an array of cultural experiences I never would have had otherwise,” she said. From a family medicine rotation on a Native American reservation in the Rocky Mountains in Montana to a behavioral health rotation at a maximum-security federal prison, Calkins added that her experiences not only learned healthcare practices, but exposed her to cultural and social lessons as well. “America is a melting pot of culture and I think that medical providers have the responsibility to be informed of or at least open to other cultures and their practices in order to provide the best healthcare,” she said.