CLASS OF 2000: Jenys Allende

Medicine (wo)manMedicine (wo)man"I have to make my mark." During her last summer before college, Jenys Allende spent hours in a neurology lab studying preserved human heads -- "a terrific opportunity," she explains. "We'd open them up and poke around in their brains," says the confident pre-med. "At first I was a little queasy, but then you name them 'Harry' and stuff and it's not so bad. It's funny, though, cause I'm so awful at getting shots." Jenys, who was born in Puerto Rico but has spent most of her life in Potomac, Md., is determined to follow in her mother's professional footsteps. "My mom is a pediatrician in D.C.," she says, adding that as a native of the Dominican Republic, her mother speaks Spanish at home. "She's leaving me her practice." Jenys's father, from Puerto Rico -- where the family keeps a second home on the beach -- is a pilot for USAir. That means free flights for the family, and Jenys takes full advantage of the perk. "I travel for free back and forth from home every weekend since my boyfriend's still there," she explains. "The traveling is definitely tough, but he's the other half of my life. "I'm not as uncertain about my career as my personal life. I'm worried about how I will balance my family and career, how to be a wife, a mom and a doctor. I want the white picket fence." At Penn, though, Jenys splits her time between her Biological Basis of Behavior classes and her extracurricular activities. First semester, she played the sultry Ronnette in Penn Players' Little Shop of Horrors. Hidden behind a blond wig and "skimpy" dresses, Jenys says she was right in her element. But she laments that the time commitment of three to six hours every night was draining. "When I have more time, I'll do it again," she says. "For me, though, schoolwork is most important. If it's something like that or that I love, but it doesn't leave me time for work, I can't do it." She chose not to get involved with the rush process or political groups on campus -- "I'm not at all interested in politics. I don't understand and I've never taken the time to understand. I'm not even registered." Though she doesn't aspire to be a straight-A student, Jenys's top priority is academics ("If I was getting C's or D's, though, I would take easier classes."). But she still isn't settled on her role as part of the class of 2000. "The class is so big, so diverse," she explains. "I have to somehow make my mark. Hopefully I'll find something I really excel at. I'm very torn in different directions. I'd love to do everything, but I know that's impossible." n

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