I participated in a wide range of professional and practicum experiences in diverse settings that gave me the opportunity to learn about the experiences or beliefs of others while allowing me to forge my own bicultural identity during my doctoral training at the University of Houston,.  After completing a master’s level internship in a federal prison in West Virginia, I worked in Houston, TX with pediatric and adult clients in private and public medical settings. I also held research assistantships during these practicums with a qualitative study of education reform with high school students in an impoverished area of Houston and with administering, interpreting, and writing reports from neuropsychological assessments with pediatric clients aged 0-5 years old who had suffered traumatic brain injuries. The training I received at Ben Taub Hospital was put to use following the devastation of one or our most culturally vivacious cities, New Orleans, due to Hurricane Katrina.  Under rather difficult circumstances, I accompanied a multidisciplinary team from Ben Taub to the Astrodome to assist in triage and other volunteer tasks for evacuees and the Red Cross.  The conflicting elements of compassion, pain, appreciation, and suffering were all palpable in the atmosphere.  It was amazing to witness how within 48 hours local, state, and federal agencies came together to convert a warehouse into a working hospital.  That life-changing experience strengthened my convictions about the importance of public service and led to my decision to directly commission into the United States Air Force.  I completed my pre-doctoral residency at Wilford Hall Medical Center in San Antonio, TX.