watched her work with her mother. After several applications, Zakrzewska was admitted into the midwifery school when Dr. Schmidt secured her a spot. She was the youngest woman to attend the school, which made her highly visible in the classroom. Regardless of the obstacles that came in her way, she outperformed her fellow classmates and graduated from the program in 1851. Dr. Schmidt was so impressed with Zakrzewska's success that he attempted to appoint her a chief midwife with the rank as a professor at the college. No woman had ever held this position and debates arose surrounding this appointment. Many believed that because men would surround her, she would fall in love, thus ending her career. Despite the challenges, Zakrzewska was appointed to the position at age twenty-two. She was responsible for more than two hundred students, men included. Zakrzewska's mentor died only a few hours after she assumed the position. Without Dr. Schmidt supporting her role as chief midwife, protests led to her early dismissal after only six months in the position. Moving to America After her resignation from the role as chief midwife at the Royal Charité Hospital in Berlin and studying medicine there, Zakrzewska set off to start a new life in America with her sister, Anna Zakrzewska. Marie yearned to find vast opportunities to practice medicine as a woman in America. In 1853, Marie and her sister reached New York. After connecting with a family friend, a physician, she realized that female physicians faced considerable disadvantages in the United States. It was extremely difficult for Marie to find a job assisting a male physician, let alone establish her own practice. The Zakrzewska sisters' funds were dwindling and to survive, they settled for sewing embroidered worsted materials. They sold these materials in the marketplace and earned as much as a dollar per day. Although her business was flourishing, Zakrzewska could not help but desire a life of practicing medicine. A year after arriving in New York, she visited the Home for the Friendless, which was well known for its support of immigrants. It was here that she was introduced to Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman in the United States to obtain her degree in medicine from a college established solely for men. Zakrzewska was excited to meet a fellow woman who shared the same passion for medicine. Following her meeting, Zakrzewska was invited to join