The purpose of this column is to highlight a Northeastern student each week. Our goal is to shed light on students who may otherwise not get an opportunity to share their story. Each week will showcase a different student’s unique traits or passion.
Whenever I hear the word pharmacy, I get a little anxious. I associate pharmacy with long nights at Snell and never-ending exams. Most of my friends are in the health science field, so I never stop hearing about chemistry and biology. To Tina Zheng, a fourth-year pharmacy major, her school work needed a little push.
In Asian households it’s common for parents to suggest your career path. Zheng knew that she wanted to pursue something to do with chemistry and her mom actually recommended pharmacy based on her personality. She thought that since Zheng was shy and quiet, pharmacy would be perfect for her; pharmacy majors are stereotyped to be antisocial and only focus on work. But when Zheng got to college, she was more focused on having the “college experience” and sacrificed her grades. She was still unfamiliar with what the pharmacy major actually entailed and her lack of passion for her major meant there was also a lack of motivation. In her second year, she realized her grades had been slipping and decided to ask for help. She reached out to older sisters in the sorority she’s in, Kappa Phi Lambda. Asking for help no longer seemed like a daunting task. She also began going to tutoring, but she still wasn’t passionate about pharmacy yet. As she entered her third year, she was able to discover new things about pharmacy that she hadn’t realized before, and it sparked her interest more. She joined a pharmacy organization in order to learn more about her major. However, it wasn’t actually anything related to pharmacy that helped Zheng get back on track.
Powerlifting became Zheng’s outlet and it ended up helping her get her act together academically as well. She started powerlifting in her second year after learning how to lift with her cousin’s boyfriend over the summer. Organizing priorities was difficult for Zheng and joining a team that she was committed to helped her put things into perspective. Her work ethic improved as she set goals for herself to become the national champion. To Zheng, powerlifting was the most relaxing part of the day because it was an opportunity to escape her stressful pharmacy life. Being surrounded by her teammates gave her a sense of belonging and drive. Zheng described powerlifting as “addicting”; once she found her potential to be so strong, lifting became a way for her to take control of her body.
I was curious to find out what the powerlifting atmosphere was like compared to other sports, especially for females. Zheng described her experience on the powerlifting team to be extremely supportive. Everyone just wanted their teammates to perform their best so they could achieve their personal records. She even said it was empowering for her to realize her own strength. Powerlifting helped Zheng gain a lot of confidence in herself in general because she realized that she had the ability to apply herself to anything that she wanted to achieve. The way your body looks isn’t important in powerlifting, and this was important for Zheng in her discovery of self-confidence. When she first told her family that she had joined powerlifting, their initial reaction was that she was going to get hurt. After telling them she wouldn’t get hurt as long as she had the right form, their next concern was that she would look too “manly.” Even her coworkers made comments such as “that’s not womanly,” or “guys won’t like that.” Despite this negative feedback, Zheng has established her own self confidence and she knows that her strength is something to be proud of. She had an encounter with someone who said “Wow, your legs are really big.” Zheng didn’t even realize this wasn’t meant to be a compliment because of the way she had learned self-confidence through powerlifting.
Her advice to anyone interested in powerlifting is to make sure they learn from someone who actually knows what they’re doing. The most important thing about powerlifting is to lift with the proper technique in order not to get injured. Her next piece of advice is to not be intimidated. Anyone can lift no matter their size, and she actually said most girls who try out for the team have never lifted before. Zheng says powerlifting is something perfect for anyone looking to try something new.