Daniel Thornton

I was born and raised in Plymouth, Massahusetts. I grew up with my mother, father, grandmother and little brother for the most part. My grandmother is from Spain and was between both countries most of my childhood until finally moving in permanantly in 2002. My life revolved around family, school and sports.

I had, what I consider, a pretty stereotypical american childhood with a few bonuses. I played sports year round, did well in school, and enjoyed myself most of the time. I was lucky enough to spend summers in Spain with family as well as trips to South America because of friends of the family. I attended public school through high school before being accepted to Elon University in North Carolina. It was and still continues to be a small gorgeous school in between Raleigh and Greensboro. I recommend it to everyone who asks about colleges to look into. There was not one day that I regretted going to that school. I got a great education and made friends that I still keep in contact with today. I was an active member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity there. Elon provided me with opportunities that other undergraduate colleges did not. One example was their cadaver lab that was open to the undergraduate anatomy students. On top of this, as long as you passed with an A- or better, you were able to become a lab assistant and would have access to the lab 24/7 to meet with current students to help them review as well as to dissect cadavers for the next days class.

Sometime between my sophomore and junior year I decided I wanted to become a Physician Assistant. My older cousin was in a program. I always knew I wanted to go back to live in Boston, so I decided I would go to Northeastern University for my Master's in PA studies. In order to do so I needed 2,000 hours of clinical experience before applying. I decided to travel to Spain after graduating from Elon. I was able to get hours over there, so it worked out well. I spent half my time in Barcelona then moved to Madrid for the second half of my stay. I returned home and started as a Gastroenterology Technician at Boston Medical Center until I was accepted into the Northeastern PA program.

Graduation is August 8, 2012. I Plan to take the PANCE exam soon after in order to start my career in surgery.