Pirate Profiles: RaaShauna Payne | Eastern North Carolina Now

 Publisher's note: The author of this post, Summer Tillman, is a contributor to ECU News Services. Photography by Cliff Hollis.

Public health studies major RaaShauna Payne is using her story to encourage students to keep pressing forward despite setbacks.

 Payne credits her determination to a moment she says helped her to take control of her life. During the first semester of her senior year of high school, she received a rejection letter from East Carolina University, the only university she had set her sights on.

 She refused to be discouraged. That same year, she applied again — this time after getting serious about her studies and retaking her ACT. And she was accepted.

 Now, Payne is a Dean's List student who earned a spot on the ECU Cheerleading team, helped fellow students as a resident assistant in Tyler Hall, and works in the university admissions office.

 Payne's collegiate success did not come without its challenges. During her sophomore year, she got her first and only C- in chemistry, a class that requires at least a C for admittance into the nursing program, Payne's career choice.

 "It was really tough for me," said Payne. "When I talked with the academic advisors, my friends and everyone else, they really made me feel secure. You know that time when you don't know what you're doing and you wasted like two years? That's when I really knew that I was meant to be here, when I saw that people supported me no matter what and I saw that the faculty were really good. That's when I was like, 'I love ECU. This is the place for me.'"

 And without that C-, Payne says she never would have discovered her passion for public health.

 "Your parents usually don't tell you, 'Be a health educator.' It's usually doctor, lawyer or scientist, so when I talked to an advisor, they introduced me to public health and I was like, 'Oh, I like it! I'll stick with it.'"

 Hoping to make a difference on a bigger scale and reduce health disparity in minority communities, Payne has dreams of opening her own nonprofit. To do so, she plans to obtain a master's in business with a certificate in health administration. She also hopes to earn a doctorate in epidemiology in order to study diseases.

 "My personal mission statement is to always give back to the community and always encourage people no matter their circumstances," she said.

 Payne will begin an internship with the American Heart Association in Los Angeles in May, just 10 days after graduation.