MedEx Day 6 - July 6, 2021

Today was the 6th day of MedEx, and it was another wonderful day. To begin the day, Tier III was given an hour off to be productive and study which I used to prepare for the Kaplan course which came at the end of the day/ is pictured above. Afterwards, Dr. Turgeon from Furman University came and spoke to our Tier about the Master of Science in Community Engaged Medicine Program at her school. The program is a great gap-year opportunity for people who want to pursue medicine or who aren't sure that they want to pursue becoming a physician.

Next, Mr. Al came and spoke to Tier III about resiliency, a core competency defined by the AAMC. The way that he first illustrated the topic of resiliency was by having several students go from "Point A" to "Point B" but not by taking the same path... what I mean by this is that student 1 walked from A to B, 2 ran, 3 crab-walked, 4...., etc. I thoroughly enjoyed the illustration, and it was a wonderful reminder that everyone around me is running a different race than me, at a different pace, and it may not have the same ending point nor starting point. After this illustration, Mr. Squire spoke about our spheres of influence and how many people do not listen to the right people regarding their life's goals. Many people do not learn from their failures, nor have the courage to face and overcome their failures. I know a lot of these things from my own experiences of when I have not listened to the right people and when I have let my fear of failing prevent me from taking the first step/ putting myself out there. As I have gotten older though, I have become much more willing to take that scary first step and go for my goals. Mr. Al also spoke about how life is hard and how we shouldn't expect our lives to be a smooth path from Point A to B but instead as a rocky road from which we grow, adapt, and evolve. As life happens, I change based on the circumstances I faced/ I grow from my experiences. I loved all of Mr. Al's reminders about achieving my own dreams, failing wisely, and using the people around me/ helping them to achieve their goals... after all the world is not a zero-sum game.

To finish the day, Kate Brennan came and spoke to Tier III about shadowing policies in the OR and about all the things that Greenville Memorial's OR has/ does. I did not realize that GMH's OR was larger than MUSC's and perhaps is the largest in the state. Next, Dr. Rob Morgan spoke to our group about the South Carolina Medical Association (SCMA) and discussed the myriad benefits of joining the organization. Lastly, Tier III had our 2nd Kaplan class and today it was focused on CARS on the MCAT/ how to use strategies to do well on this section.

Another great day!