Trusty backpack follows local doctor from kindergarten through med school

COLONIE, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- Imagine having the same backpack through all 13 years of grade school, four years of college, and then seven more years of medical school and residency! That is the case for a local emergency room doctor showing off her trusty companion this week after graduating from residency on June 13.

Dr. Seuss's "Oh The Places You'll Go" is a sentiment usually reserved for little kids going off to school and celebrating their big milestones. But you could extend the same thought to Maleesa Santos's backpack!

"This backpack almost used to be as big as me, and now I'm a lot bigger," Santos said.

From the the first day of kindergarten through the last day of med school, for the last 26 years, Santos has carried her dependable maroon Timberland backpack with her everywhere.

"Before, used to be my school books, crumpled up assignments that have been shoved into the bottom, and snacks, pencil case," she recalled.

Now, it holds her stethoscope, trauma shears, medical reference books, a penlight; pretty much anything an ER doctor would need. "It's just a reminder of everything I've been through to get to where I am today," she said.

An indestructible maroon Timberland backpack purchased in 1998, holding up to time and carrying memories along the way.

"Ever since I was five going to kindergarten, I've wanted to become a doctor. Now here I am, and now I'm a doctor and still have the same backpack," she explained.

At 31, Dr. Santos held that same backpack as she graduated from her residency program this month with the memory of that first day of kindergarten at Berne-Knox-Westerlo safely tucked away.