According to Merriam-Webster, the definition of the word home is “the place (such as a house or apartment) where a person lives.” Perhaps more hearteningly, they define being at home as being “relaxed and comfortable”, “in harmony with the surroundings”, or “on familiar ground”. For both of us, North Carolina is the place where we feel we belong best.
While we have different pre-grad school backgrounds, we both love living in North Carolina. I (Haley) moved with my now-husband from Massachusetts to Greensboro for grad school. Although neither of us ever had any family members leave Massachusetts, and we predicted that we would be back up North after I graduated, we fell in love with North Carolina instantly. We even took the plunge and settled roots down here by buying a house in my first year of grad school. While this commitment was big and scary, it was also thrilling knowing that I would have to find an opportunity to work in the community post-graduation. I never imagined that the word “home” would mean anything other than Massachusetts for me, but Greensboro has become what I envision when I think about my permanent home.
Conversely, I (Aimee) have called North Carolina home for many years, having grown up in Charlotte and attended NC State in Raleigh. After grad school, I moved to Baton Rouge, LA for a year to join my husband. There, I worked as a single genetic counselor in a multispecialty clinic, and was only one of approximately 10-15 genetic counselors in the state. Even hundreds of miles away, I found myself able to continue relying on my North Carolina colleagues (whether supervisors, UNCG faculty, or friends made in grad school), to help navigate being a new genetic counselor in an area with limited genetic resources. As time went on, though we loved living in Baton Rouge and the friends and colleagues we had met there, my husband and I could no longer resist the call to return to North Carolina. Being back in North Carolina and engrained in the communities we know and love, we are simultaneously content and invigorated to be home.
Having now worked for over a full year post-graduation, we have a renewed sense of appreciation for our previous supervisors and UNCG faculty members. We better understand the nuances of counseling and interactions with others within the genetics community, no matter their role. We have both been fortunate to work directly with Randi and Dr. Reitnauer post-graduation. They were immensely supportive throughout our time in grad school and continue to be supportive in our careers. We are lucky to have the opportunity to continue to grow, both as humans and as genetics professionals, alongside them.
Since the genetics community in North Carolina is relatively small, we are always working with some friendly and familiar faces. The shift from a supervisor-supervisee relationship to professional colleagues, while at first intimidating, has been of great value. We have a unique awareness of the resources that exist throughout the state because of the breadth of rotation opportunities we were provided in grad school. We love that we can call up old supervisors who are experts in a particular area and may have some pearls of wisdom for us at any time. This was especially helpful for us both as we navigated being the only genetic counselor at a practice when first starting our post-grad careers.
We also appreciate having continued opportunities to engage with the program outside of a supervisory role. Between giving guest lectures, participating in community initiatives, attending NCMGA conferences, and helping students with Capstone projects, there are ample opportunities to give back to a program and community which gave us so much.
Beyond our interactions with the UNCG genetic counseling program, genetic services in Greensboro are growing at a rapid pace. The size of our team of genetic counselors across specialties at Cone Health has doubled in the past two years from four to eight. We are able to offer services for a greater number of patients in more locations, including some underserved communities which have not had access to genetics services in the past. Exciting changes are planned for the Greensboro genetics community, and we are thrilled to witness and contribute to this growth over the next several years!
So, what does life have in store for us next? Personally, we have both gotten married and adopted two dogs within the last few years and are planning on expanding our families here in the near future. Professionally, we look forward to continuing to shape our identities as genetic counselors in the Greensboro area. We are grateful every day to not only settle roots here, but to work in and advocate for the community that we fell in love with during our two years in grad school. We are happy to be home.
