I have always felt blessed to spend most of my adult life in academia. I love the opportunity to have deep and meaningful conversations with colleagues. I enjoy seeing the intellectual curiosity of the faculty and how they impart that to their students, and I love that each year consists of different periods that have totally different feelings.
Right now, I am seeing the joy in our students who have achieved something so remarkable as finishing their programs in spite of the adversity they have experienced over the last year. They persevered, they committed to their education and they didn’t let the biggest challenge of our lives stand in their way. They made it and I can’t be prouder of the resilience of each and every student graduating from the IHP in 2021.
I also feel that just a little weight is being lifted off our faculty and staff. I know some of that feeling comes from a combination of coming out of a long, cold winter and the easing up of COVID restrictions. But the real reason for their joy at this time of year is seeing the results of their work in the growth and development of our students. I remember my years as a faculty member and being so excited for the students who had a lifetime of opportunities open to them as a health professional. I wondered where their profession would take them, and I hoped they felt as proud of being a health professional as I did in my career. At this time of year, I know our faculty and staff are feeling that joy.
This time of year also brings the rites of passage that I love and are so much a part of the academy. And while COVID has prevented us from engaging in all those important ceremonies, I am so pleased we were able to figure out a way to have some in-person events and others by Zoom. Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the Genetic Counseling honors program event where they were celebrating the students in the very first graduating class. The event was so moving and inspirational. This was the first time they were together since the onset of the pandemic and the program’s faculty, staff, and students shared the opportunity to celebrate each graduate. Student speaker Gabriella Raffaele spoke of how she overcame the challenges that COVID raised and the importance of her classmates to her success. She shared her commitment to improving the lives of the people she would care for. I am sure so many students graduating in the next couple of months share her sentiments.
Our students and graduates have taken on the charge to improve the lives of the people they serve and lead in transforming the systems of care for the benefit of the community. I have always believed that academia should be the training ground for students to develop as leaders. Leadership experiences are as important to their development as a health care professional as the clinical skills they learn in their respective program. Last month, we celebrated IHP student leaders at the Student Leaders Appreciation and Award event hosted by the Office of Student and Alumni Services. It was a wonderful tribute to our student leaders, recognizing them for their work as leaders in issues related to social justice, mental health, professional development, community outreach and so many more. Our Student Government leaders, Alejandra Luna, Alyx Vogel, Olivia Rotelle, and Swarna Gummadi, were recognized for overcoming immense challenges in the face of COVID and their ability to keep the sense of community, to fundraise for important causes, and support the culture and growth of the IHP. Student leaders talked about their leadership experience as opening their eyes to the realization that we need to accept people as they come to us assuming that people are doing the very best they can at any given time. One student talked about how her leadership experience helped her to find her voice and through her voice, she made a difference on social justice issues. A third student talked about the believers, the achievers, and the leaders of the IHP justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) work.
While several students were honored for their leadership at that event, I know there are leadership traits in all of our IHP students and graduates. Each student has an opportunity to develop those leadership skills over the course of their respective program. Each of our graduates can use these skills to change the world. Each fork in the road provides an opportunity to impact the community, the profession, and the patients they serve.