Excited doesn't even begin to cover it.

For student Valarie Schwind, who was just a few days away from stepping on a plane to New York City, "excited" was just the first step in this, her fourth and final year of medical school at the Texas A&M Health Science Center (TAMHSC) College of Medicine.

Schwind, who graduated from Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi with a degree in biomedical science in 2007, is now applying for away rotations to round out her educational experiences during her fourth year and preparing to apply to multiple residency programs around the country.

If all goes well, she will need to travel to multiple sites for interviews beginning in November.

She's able to do all this, she says, because in May she received one of the first President's Scholarships, a $2,500 award made possible by the President's Circle, a group of supporters of the TAMHSC Foundation.

From applicants throughout the entire College of Medicine, Schwind was chosen for her demonstrated leadership, professionalism, academic performance and community service.

What she didn't know at the time of this interview was that she would go on to receive one of three $1,000 scholarships to fourth-year students from the College of Medicine for outstanding service to her community and the college. (On September 1, more than 20 scholarships were awarded to College of Medicine students.)

"Coming into my fourth year, I was nervous about having enough money to go on residency interviews," Schwind said. "So I was really excited and thankful to receive this award because this is what I'll use to go on my away rotations and to travel to residency interviews."

"I'm very honored that the nominating committee thought of me," she added.

During Schwind's first away rotation, she learned emergency medicine for four weeks at Kings County Hospital and State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Medical Center, hospitals associated with SUNY Downstate College of Medicine. While there she said she hoped to discover if she prefers a big city over a rural environment.

"I could go anywhere," she said."This is my time for adventure. I've never lived in a big city, so I want to make sure that I can do it."

After her month in New York, Schwind traveled to Atlanta where she is completing a rotation in emergency medicine at Emory University School of Medicine.

Then, she'll return to the TAMHSC Round Rock campus where she has already completed rotations in surgery, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics and psychiatry.

"I have great stories from every single rotation. All of my attendings have been amazing here in Round Rock, and I wish I could publicly thank them for inspiring me and changing my life."

From here, Schwind's opportunities are wide open. (When you've had the privilege to be elbow-deep in a patient's abdomen clamping the aorta with your hand to maintain blood pressure, you feel you can do anything.)

Just listening to Schwind talk about her experiences, her voice charged with excitement and gratitude, one realizes that within every adventure, the education of a lifetime is happening.