Entering its rookie year, Medical and Pharmacy Perspectives (MAPP) hopes to make a difference in local high school students’ lives. College of Medicine students Walter Rzecznik and Jay Patel share more about the new student organization.
What inspired you to organize Medical and Pharmacy Perspectives?
A: As we progressed through our first year of medical school, we quickly noticed that our experience didn’t exactly align with our expectations. We didn’t have family members in the health care field, so we had many unanswered questions. We feel that an opportunity to ask current health care students would have given us a clearer view of what to expect along our own journeys.
MAPP allows medicine and pharmacy students to interact with high school students. We will serve as advisers to these prospective health care students by answering questions, sharing our personal stories and relaying tailored advice to interested students.
Can any NEOMED student be a part of MAPP?
A: We encourage both medicine and pharmacy students to join! We believe it will be beneficial for prospective health care students to hear both perspectives. Both medicine and pharmacy students will be encouraged to visit local schools to share their advice, experiences and knowledge.
We will host an initial orientation meeting to ensure all members understand the goals of their visits to local schools. After this meeting, we will begin school visits as soon as possible.
Why do you encourage your peers to join MAPP?
A: Students should join MAPP to pay it forward to the next generation of health care professionals. The prospective health care students of today will be our colleagues of tomorrow. We aim to increase the confidence of these prospective health care students and provide them with a perspective grounded in experience. Our end goal is to not only improve the experience of these prospective students, but to improve the field of health care as a result.
We look forward to visiting high schools around Northeast Ohio communities and beyond. We encourage recommendations from students on high schools to visit.