KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Ava, an eight-year-old living with acute myeloblastic leukemia, has dreams of becoming a scientist to help make people healthy and her wish was granted with a hands-on experience at the University of Tennessee College of Pharmacy and College of Nursing.

Throughout the day, Ava’s big personality shined through. Her mother, Shadricka Sawyer, said Ava is a great kid and a free-spirited ball of sunshine with a lot of energy. While some children who have been around health care providers as much as Ava might want to be as far away from medicine as possible, Sawyer said her daughter’s interest in science sparked around the time when she was diagnosed with leukemia, and since then that interest has been very consistent.

“It’s amazing to see a kid that’s so young to aspire to be someone that gives back, ’cause I mean, she experienced it firsthand and she knows the importance of providing medical care for children that are sick or people that have illness[es]. It’s heartwarming to have an eight-year-old tell you that they want to give back and become a scientist. That’s pretty amazing,” Sawyer said.

The day’s experiences started off with Ava and her family arriving at the UT College of Pharmacy in a bright orange limousine. After being welcomed by a crowd of students and staff, Ava was presented with her own lab coat, and worked alongside pharmacy students on a missions to compound a “medication” known as “Wizard Whipped Cream,” conduct an experiment and fill prescriptions for Batman and Bugs Bunny. Ava also practiced administering medicine to a Squishmallow patient and received some surprises along the way to help her with her journey as a scientist.

Behind the scenes, students worked for about a week to figure out what missions they would set up for Ava. College of Pharmacy Student Ethan Hathcock shared that the team brainstormed, focusing on what an eight-year-old would want to do.

“We said, ‘Well, making a cream, making a formula is something that you don’t see every single day. So that would be something cool to show and a kind of neat thing that the pharmacy profession does, and everybody loves Diet Coke and Mentos, so any big eruption like that is always going to be a fan favorite,’” Hathcock said.

Describing her big day, Ava said it was “amazing!”

Then it was time for a quick treat at UT Creamery: mint chocolate chip ice cream. After taking a quick tour around the creamery’s building, Ava and her family were off to the University of Tennessee College of Nursing, where she got to learn hands-on from College of Nursing Dean Victoria Niederhauser and some nursing students. Smokey was also waiting, alongside a group of students, to welcoming Ava and her family when they arrived.

Ava learned about charting and how many patients a nurse takes care of, and after donning her scrubs, she had the chance to practice her nursing skills in one of the college’s simulation rooms. These rooms look nearly identical to a hospital room, but have cameras so students can be observed from another room and watch back their practice sessions. In an observation room, Ava’s parents and staff with Make-A-Wish East Tennessee watched as Ava was a natural, caring for an infant mannequin and taking vitals on her Squishmallow patient.

With the assistance of technicians in a control room, Ava was able to watch in real time as the blood pressure, pulse and oxygen levels of her Squishmallow fluctuated in the simulation room. While those changes happened, Ava charted the vitals and ensured that it got the proper care needed to be healthy once again.

And if the hands-on experience of her Wish Day wasn’t enough, the cherry on top was Niederhauser presenting Ava with her own stethoscope and recognizing her as an official “Volunteer nurse.”