APRIL

Pfffffft….. okay. As some of you (maybe) well know, it has been quite the month. We, I, am in high gear right now, have been really but the pressure is forever building when you have something like a board exam approaching.
Anywho, what was April all about? Yes “was”… writing retrospectively this month. So April…


1. Controversy
So my school was in the news recently because of a suit/long standing investigation (unwarranted) regarding the use of “race” in the application process. Same situation UT was in a while back. Here’s the scoop. We conceded to the suit, meaning…. We will not be using it (“race”) in our applications, nor are we allowed to by any means include it in a way that would make it possible for us to have record of it…cause we can’t do that either [have records].

Now I was asked explicitly not to protest by a man I respect. Ain’t no secret I can run my mouth about some bullshit, injustice, ignorance, disparities, etc. And out of respect, I have not done so. So let me be clear (*in my Obama voice), this is not a protest [obvi]. This is where I will say everything I feel about the situation my institution has been put in and how I feel about some of the people close to it.
First, let me point out that the investigation by the Civil Rights Commission/Committee, whatever the hell their name is was investigating the undergrad campus and just decided to wander over to ours. But the hell with them. Let me talk about what’s wrong with this. For one thing, this is not some widespread mandate for all schools, the are literally chicken picking and demanding these alterations. If that isn’t bogus I don’t know what is.

Now to the tea…. Why is this such a big deal? There’s two sides of this for me. One is the issue itself. I consider myself very very fortunate to be a apart of the class that I’m in, that it looks the way it looks. I think about the first time I was able to look at my class as a whole with my own eyes all at once and I was so excited and surprised at how diverse we were. The class under us even more so! Diversity is used in reference to a lot of things but let’s not pretend race isn’t one of them. We are in a professional education program. We are all here to be freakin doctors!! You know what means? That means we are answering the call to heal anyone and everyone. Think about what our world looks like, all the different people that inhabit it. Our vocation is a service needed by all, and you can’t expect one or even two types of people to be able to understand the needs of everyone. Diversity is ESSENTIAL to our service. We have to reflect the people we are preparing to care for, our communities, our world. We have to be able to learn alongside people with different experiences, cultures, and upbringings in order to enhance our compassion, our communication, our understanding beyond just the science of healthcare. And I’m emphasizing healthcare cause that’s clearly the focal point, but to bring this closer to you or someone you know… Diversity and how it benefits education is crucial to any profession or level of learning. Think about college. Most kids get their first culture shock in undergrad and years of learning (or partying) with people who aren’t from your hometown is a part of what helps us grow and mature and head out into the world with some sense!

Now that’s the value of it in school, but there’s also some serious consequences for the individual. You might argue that I feel some type of way because I’m a person of color.
Ya DAMN skippy!
If you’re one of those people who think “race” has no place in the application process and shouldn’t be recorded cause schools are just using it to meet their color quota and not paying attention to the actual qualifications, please keep reading.
Yes, schools have and desire to be diverse “on paper” of course they do, but if you think they’re just letting any old person go to medical school of all things, HA! Please. I will get to the whole “diversity on paper” thing in a bit. For now let’s talk about how no one is applying to med school just for shits and giggles.
*side note if you or someone you know is in fact applying to med school for shits and giggles I highly recommend you seek counsel.
The people that are applying, especially those of color are brilliant, passionate, and hard working. And that’s not a comparison, just a statement. They want to be advocates of their culture as well as healers of all people.  And let’s be honest, there is not a whole lot of inherent encouragement in young people of color to pursue challenging fields, so it’s important for it to be public record that we out here! In college, I had a few clues of where I wanted to apply to school, but I did use those statistics to help guide some of my decisions in schools. Imagine my surprise that I ended up in West Texas. I had very low expectations of being in a diverse environment. City wise I'm not tbh so imagine my surprise when I got here and laid eyes on the rest of class of 2021. Diversity is beneficial to you in that it provides people different than you to learn with and from AS WELL AS people who look like you to learn with and from. No one wants to be token. You know what happens when you’re token or ‘”the first person like you” somewhere, you instantly become the sole representation for everyone like you. Which is not only rude but a gross INACCURACY! And no I will not explain why. My point is that as a black girl navigating my way to and through this pursuit, I wanted and needed to know that schools had people who like me there and thriving. I also needed and wanted to know they had  people unlike me there and thriving. Sure schools may be meeting a quota, but a lot of them understand the purpose and value of accepting different kinds of people into a program. They foster that potential and mold physicians that truly reflect the patient population as much as possible.
 
On that note, there is a lot of responsibility on the institution to not waste their diversity. Our school being in West Texas, is as I mentioned not somewhere people are expecting ton of diversity but we’ve managed to have it. As far as what we’re doing with it, I’m not so sure we are doing as much as we could be. There’s always something that could use tweaking at any place, whether it be curriculum, administration, whatever. I think we have some incredible people in influential places. People (doctors) who understand the potential consequences of not being able to assess or inquire about race in applications/prospective students. I think these people see the trouble with our situation, and they are also the ones who truly advocate and encourage diversity beyond just having record of it. Unfortunately I think they are sandwhiched  between equally and maybe even more influential positions occupied by people who may care less or just don’t seem to see an issue. That’s all I’ll say about that.
Bottom line, our school has some growing to do and this decision is infuriating, but there may be a silver lining yet. Perhaps the consequences of this alteration will shed light on how much more we could do for our students, how much we ought to appreciate having diverse classes and how to offer more support to that end.  This is probably not the most eloquent I’ve ever been but I have a lot of feelings and when laden with emotion it’s  always a toss up if I’ll be able to shoot straight so to speak. But hopefully this makes sense and reads somewhat well.


2. AMEC
Speaking of race and the beauty and power of it….. let’s talk about AMEC! So I finally did a thing and was able to attend the Annual Medical Education Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. AMEC is a conference hosted by the national chapter of SNMA, Student National Medical Association. This organization has chapters at schools all over the country, recognizing, supporting, and challenging minority students pursuing medicine to work with one another, be successful and as we move forward reach back to those following behind us.  I’m on the now outgoing officer board and a handful of us attended the conference. I’m so grateful for the officer board I was a part of for TTUHSC chapter. They’re amazing and while I wish we all could have been there, I really enjoyed the time with those of us that did go.

It was so beautiful. Like, I like inspiring people and am often inspired on a whim by all sorts of things, but this… this was like levels on levels on levels of inspiration. Like just being in the presence of so many black people for one, was a feeling like no other. There were more than black people there, as there are more than black people in SNMA, but just being real… we were the majority and all that melanin from status: premed to practicing physician walking those halls did something to my spirit. And like I said that was only level one. Now bummer, I was studying in mean and between time because at this point my semester was not over and I still had two exams left before year 2 was officially over. But let’s pretend that’s not true.

Each day, each moment, every session I was able to attend was incredible. There is so so much opportunity out there which is amazing but it’s sad because there’s so many of us unaware of these chances and just the very real support offered by so many residents, attendings, institutions that want to help you, empower you , and motivate you during your journey. There are endless connections to be made, some lifelong maybe. 

Speaking of lifelong connections, this conference was a little extra special, as I was able to share this experience with my big brother (also a second year med student). We haven’t had a lot of time together since we both started, just brief visits over that one and only summer after first year and holidays, so this was a change of pace and something for just us to bask in. It was unreal. Like I’ve always thought it was cool being on this journey alongside him, but being in Philly together for this was so thrilling. I met his classmates who were so sweet and we visited some of residency tables together and to top off our quality time, did a little “turn up turn up ayyy” with all the other attendees one night. It was so good. I love him and I so appreciate our first AMEC being OUR first AMEC. #allinthefamily Well I should say #allinthevoicefamily because the whole conference vibe was #allinthefamily like frfr. I can’t remember the last time I left somewhere feeling so sparked. I came back all kinds of fired up, lol. Good thing too, cause I came back to end of my freakin’ semester!!!!!!!


 3. Round 2
Yea, so came back to the end of  the semester and the beginning of dedicated. That was April.... and the last days were nothing short of fast paced, anxiety ridden, excitement, financial crisis, and lots of cleaning (my house and my dog's ears). But all in all, so much work has been done is still being done, so I leave April here... forever immortalized (the highlights at least). And I'll be back next month for another update.
*and by next month yes I do mean sometime in June. see you're catching on.

​Take care friends!

xxO,
The Third Voice