A Commitment to Service: Shaping a Future in Community Care

For senior biomedical sciences (BIMS) major Tina Sulbaran, service is not just something she does. It is what has shaped her time at Texas A&M University, her career goals, and the way she sees the world.

Originally from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Sulbaran knew she wanted her university to feel like a home away from home.

“What really drew me to Texas A&M was the culture and the familiarity of being somewhere that welcomed me like they had already known me,” she said. “It just feels like you’re home as soon as you step foot on campus.”

That sense of belonging became the foundation for everything that followed.

Sulbaran started her college career planning to pursue biomedical engineering before going to medical school. However, her freshman year, she joined Global Medical Brigades and signed up for a medical mission trip to Panama, an experience that changed everything.

“On that mission trip, I realized I wanted to go dental school, not medical school,” she said. “I saw how the dentist interacted with the patients, and how they made an immediate difference in a person’s life.”

Understanding Care Beyond the Classroom

When Sulbaran returned to campus, she switched her major to BIMS, and as a student in the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, she began pursuing a path in dentistry, one grounded in service.

“After talking with different people, I realized biomedical sciences was a great major to help me keep learning and prepare for professional school,” she said.

Through her coursework and three medical mission trips to Panama and Belize, Sulbaran started to better understand what service looks like in practice, both inside and outside of the classroom.

“The human-to-human connection is so special,” she said. “You go there thinking that you’re going to help them, but in reality, you come back receiving so much more.”

In many of the communities she served, access to care was extremely limited, and the experience left a lasting impression on how she views both healthcare and her own education.

“The people there don’t have access to any kind of medical care,” she said. “The clinics that we would set up would be in the mountains and they would still have to walk two hours down from the top of the mountain just to receive this care. It just shows the importance of actually paying attention and not taking your education and experiences for granted.”

These experiences reshaped how Sulbaran thinks about helping others. Service, she learned, is not always about having the right answer.

“Sometimes you go into a conversation expecting to share whatever wisdom you have, but in reality, they don’t want to hear what you have to say,” she said. “They just want to be heard.”

Impacting Communities Near and Far

While her international experiences played a major role in her journey, some of Sulbaran’s most meaningful work has happened much closer to home, in College Station. Through Elizabeth House Maternity Home, she has spent years volunteering weekly with women and families working toward stability.

“I’ve honestly probably learned more from the people I’ve met on missions and volunteering than I’ve given them,” she said. “It’s changed my life and my worldview.”

Her role is simple but consistent. She shows up, helps where needed and builds relationships, something she says has made service feel less like an obligation and more like a privilege.

“It doesn’t feel like a task at all. It makes the service feel much more like a part of your everyday life,” Sulbaran said.

She has also found ways to bring that same mindset into her work on campus. She helped start Aggies Delivering Smiles, a student organization focused on oral health education for children in the community. Her long-term goals became even clearer through her volunteer work.

“I think this has taught me that serving those underserved populations is where my passion lies,” she said.

Preparing for a Career in Community Care

After graduation this May, Sulbaran plans to apply to dental school. Her goal is to work in community health dentistry, serving patients who may not otherwise have access to care.

Looking back, Sulbaran says her time at Texas A&M has shaped more than just her academic path. It has shaped how she approaches people, relationships, her studies, and the responsibility that comes with serving others.

“Service looks different in a lot of different encounters,” she said. “It is important to remember that people and their situations make them no less worthy of a good life and for good things to come to them.”

As she prepares to graduate, Sulbaran encourages others to take that same initiative when it comes to serving others. “You can’t wait for the opportunity to come to you,” she said. “You have to seek it out and you have to seek ways to be better.”