SOSU fine arts alumnus goes back to school to become physician

DURANT, Okla. (KXII) - An SOSU alumnus goes back to school to completely change his life path from fine arts to physician. How he hopes to inspire others with his journey.

“You know you go to theater, you go to entertainment, movies, to have a catharsis, just an explosion of emotion," said Darrin Wade, a Southeastern Oklahoma State University alumnus.

A former theater teacher, Wade thought of himself as a physician of the soul.

“Theater is instrumental in being able to connect with that, hearing other stories, hearing other philosophies. And so through that I was able to help others just emotionally," said Wade.

Growing up with family in medicine, Wade always wanted to help others. He graduated from SOSU in 2013 with a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts. Then Wade moved to California where he worked with Disney and Universal Studios while getting his masters. He later moved back to Texas to become a theater teacher.

“As I got older I said you know what is it that I really like? And I realized that it was medicine and so I guess it’s a little genetic to have that passion for helping people immediately," said Wade.

Wade came back to SOSU 2 and a half years ago to pursue a new career path.

“There are not many theater majors that come back I can tell you that. He had no science background really at all, and was just very enthusiastic," said Teresa Golden, Vice President of Academic Affairs at SOSU.

At the time, Golden was the Biology department chair and Wade’s advisor.

“Really none of his coursework from before other than his general electives and those kinds of things were helpful for him at all. He had to start from square one," said Golden.

His plan is to focus on emergency medicine, and is now applying to medical schools in Oklahoma and Texas.

“Your life is a journey and it’s okay to accept that, it’s okay to say I know in general that I like to help people. What are the many avenues that I can do that? Let me try this one, let me try that one," said Wade.

He hopes to once again help others by being an inspiration of change.

“So I don’t think that changing a discipline or changing what you want to do is a step backwards. It’s actually a step forward because you’re taking what you’ve done before and bringing it to something new," said Wade.