Hannah Hollon
Moving to a new place without friends or family for support can be a scary thought, but it is oftentimes a reality for young adults setting out on their own for the first time. Both of my parents moved from small southern towns to Charleston, SC in the 80’s to follow their career paths in the medical field. My parents represented two different attitudes toward this kind of move; the thought of leaving a small, rural town to pursue nursing excited my mom, while my father was nervous about residency in a big city, as any medical school graduate would be. Charleston made the transition easier. Charleston is such a great city, and the hospital where both ended up, the Medical University of South Carolina, provided such a great foundation for a medical career. Both places made the move for my parents easier and more exciting as they made connections quickly and settled into their new lives. Setting out on one’s own can be a scary thought, yet starting fresh in Charleston, such a revered southern city, made the transition for both of my parents following their career paths easier as they found their independence, and my immediate family has been located in Charleston ever since.
Charleston gained the reputation for second best city in the world by Conde Naste this year because it has been known for many things such as its southern history, downtown, the port, beaches, and world-renowned restaurants, and the city has held this status since its founding in 1670. Such characteristics make Charleston the ideal place to live, for it used to be “the most eminent and by far the richest city in Southern district of North America” (Lesesne 64). Living there my entire life, I have witnessed the great influx of northerners who migrate to Charleston and the increasing number of tourists that flood downtown in the springtime, and these numbers are no coincidence. Obviously, Charleston is most well-known for its history during “the slave society and ante-bellum South” time period, for we depended heavily on slave labor in the agricultural sector (Radford 395). Charleston used to be the sixth largest city in the country as the “capital of plantations” and founder of the “agrarian nature of South Carolina,” yet the city transitioned into a port city in the modern era (Radford 395). Charleston started out as agricultural and free of technology, but by the twentieth century the city moved toward industrialization with highways, bridges, an army base, boats, and the port. This transition late in Charleston’s history created the famous “old city” environment as compared to other great American cities. Charleston stands apart from all other American cities due to this type of foundation, making it almost an independent city containing southern charm in a worldly environment. These reasons have drawn natives and tourists in for centuries, including my parents, who were instantly drawn to Charleston, and medical careers soon followed. This opened up a chance for independence and fresh perspective, and the idea of a fresh start in such a unique city appealed to my parents despite their expected nerves. They moved in pursuit of medical careers, however, Charleston is the reason that my family remains there today.
My parents came to Charleston because of the Medical University of South Carolina, and due to positive experiences, have never left. Charleston alone would have been reason enough for them to stay, but MUSC’s great reputation and plethora of opportunities really lured them in. This hospital and medical school was founded in 1823 “for the purpose of improving the quality of medical practice and to advance medical education in South Carolina,” and these standards have remained for almost two hundred years (Edwards 13). “In that early period Charleston had become a center of cultural and scientific interest and endeavor” due to its reputation as a hub of intelligence, innovation, and advancement above other cities in the country (Lynch 6). Hence, their medical successes needed to move with their growing reputation and population. Charleston attracted “a considerable number of qualified men” to their developing institution, and they represented “the best education and training available” (Lynch 9). With this constituent underway, the Medical University could not fail, and it has not. This is what individually drew my parents into Charleston, thus shaping the future of my immediate family.
Being bound to both Charleston and MUSC, both of my parents were excited for what lay ahead in terms of opportunities and the chance to live in a bigger environment. My mom graduated from college and immediately set her sights on becoming a nurse at MUSC’s hospital. She had previous experience working as a nurse’s aide over the summers, which made her transition into the hospital easier. She was attracted to this nursing unit because of the influx of young people already working there and the chance to see surgeries and medical wonders that could not be seen at a regular hospital; “the early faculty included men of national and international reputation, who gave the college a prestige which placed it at once amongst the foremost institutions,” and the hospital has continued to maintain this reputation (Lesesne 124) She jumped right in and made the two best friends whom she has had ever since. She started pump school to become a nurse focusing on the heart, when she met my dad, an anesthesia resident at MUSC. He had moved to Charleston after graduating medical school in Memphis, Tennessee. Like my mom, he grew up in an even smaller southern town, and the thought of Charleston seemed huge at the time. He interviewed there, fell in love with both the city and hospital, and began his residency soon after. He lived with his college roommate who made his transition slightly easier, yet being a resident in a substantial hospital is both stressful and frightening. Once he and my mom got married, he moved to a different hospital but appreciated and recognized the foundations that MUSC laid for him. I am inspired to become a doctor myself just from growing up and hearing stories about their time spent at MUSC. This is why I see MUSC as such a pivotal place to my family, for this was where it began and where I hope to be one day. None of this could have been possible had Charleston not been innovative from the beginning so as to attract renowned medical experts in the early years of MUSC’s founding. I credit my family’s significant history to both of these places.
My parents’ choices to leave their friends and family in their hometown to start fresh in a thriving city have impacted the ways in which we live our lives today. Big cities are usually associated with a faster pace, lively activity, and independence. Charleston possesses all three, which inspires me to always be on the go and involved in something. Being an only child, I could have grown up completely dependent on my parents, but instead, many would say that I am just the opposite, and I think this has a lot to do with my upbringing in Charleston .Oddly enough, I do associate Charleston with independence. It is the place where my parents set out individually, alone. They had to find their way, which they did successfully. My parents taught me the virtue of independence growing up, and I feel that I have carried it into my own life as I ventured to UNC without knowing many familiar faces. Needless to say, independence is a characteristic of my family, resulting from the energy of Charleston and experience in the medical profession. It all relates back to Charleston’s founding and the establishment of MUSC, which lured my parents years back. The thought of independence can be scary, yet my family has grown as a result of independence and the offerings of both Charleston and MUSC.
Works Cited
Edwards, James B. The Southeast's Oldest Medical School. New York: Newcomen
Society of the United States, 1986.
“Family History.” Telephone interview. 6 Nov. 2011.
Lesesne, Thomas. History of Charleston County South Carolina. Charleston: A.H.
Cawston, 1931.
Lynch, Kenneth. Medical Schooling in South Carolina 1823-1969. Columbia: R.L. Bryan,
1970.
Radford, John P. "Testing the Model of the Pre-industrial City." Transactions of the
Institute of British Geographers 4.2 (1979): 392-410. JSTOR. Web. 7 Nov. 2011.
<http://http://www.jstor.org/stable/622059>.
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