As of today, I have officially handed off all of my extra-curricular activities. I'm super excited to see the first year students step into these roles. They are so excited, energized, and idealistic! I have no doubt that they will do wonderful things in their short stint as leaders and will heavily influence the crop of medical students that come in after them (class of 2015).
Now comes my biggest commitment yet: step 1 studying! Though I am presenting at 2 different academic conferences between now and when I take step 1; I sill have a non-boards centered outlet. But first, I think I will enjoy med prom this weekend.
Showing posts with label student groups. Show all posts
Showing posts with label student groups. Show all posts
Friday, February 4, 2011
Sunday, August 8, 2010
going gay
My medical school went gay last week.
Okay, fine, let me try rephrasing that. After a lot of work, meetings, and jumping through hoops, we finally got an LGBT and allies student group approved at the medical school. While not as hard as I feared it would be (and with a lot less backlash) this was still a rather difficult task as we had to defeat the overwhelming amount of stress induced apathy. But advocacy and grassroots organizing paid off. We are now a guaranteed student group with all the rights and privileges such a status bestows... all $300 or so a year to put on events with, events we were already putting on. The money wasn't the point of creating a student group though; rather it was to create a visible and inclusive community fully supported by the administration.
To celebrate we had a gay happy hour outing Friday afternoon. There was an excellent turn out and people seemed to enjoy themselves. Meeting some of the first years was lovely. The surprise of the night? Learning there are nearly 15 openly (out) identified (L/G/Q/insert proper identity term) students in the first year class. That is as many as the other 3 years combined! While it still represents less than 10% of their class population, it is a HUGE number for a medical school class, especially medical schools in the South. I'm taking it as a positive sign for the ability to change the system and encouragement to keep fighting for LGBTQ visibility. I'm also really interested to see if this increase in population will have any effect on perceived community dynamics. Or for that matter, on my personal life (so doubtful)....
Okay, fine, let me try rephrasing that. After a lot of work, meetings, and jumping through hoops, we finally got an LGBT and allies student group approved at the medical school. While not as hard as I feared it would be (and with a lot less backlash) this was still a rather difficult task as we had to defeat the overwhelming amount of stress induced apathy. But advocacy and grassroots organizing paid off. We are now a guaranteed student group with all the rights and privileges such a status bestows... all $300 or so a year to put on events with, events we were already putting on. The money wasn't the point of creating a student group though; rather it was to create a visible and inclusive community fully supported by the administration.
To celebrate we had a gay happy hour outing Friday afternoon. There was an excellent turn out and people seemed to enjoy themselves. Meeting some of the first years was lovely. The surprise of the night? Learning there are nearly 15 openly (out) identified (L/G/Q/insert proper identity term) students in the first year class. That is as many as the other 3 years combined! While it still represents less than 10% of their class population, it is a HUGE number for a medical school class, especially medical schools in the South. I'm taking it as a positive sign for the ability to change the system and encouragement to keep fighting for LGBTQ visibility. I'm also really interested to see if this increase in population will have any effect on perceived community dynamics. Or for that matter, on my personal life (so doubtful)....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)