White Coat Weekend

Laura:
IT'S OFFICIAL!!!! I successfully completed Orientation Week at the University of Rochester School of Medicine, and to top everything off I am now the proud, bewildered, ecstatic, overwhelmed, grateful, humbled owner of a short WHITE COAT! Whoa.....things are getting real now.

On the gloriously sunny morning of August 12, my classmates and I received our white coats during a beautiful ceremony at the Interfaith Chapel on the U of R "River Campus" - aka the undergraduate campus nestled along the Genesee River (which runs through the heart of Rochester). In attendance were my mom, my dad, and Alex. It was really great to have you all there for this incredible occasion. THANKS FOR COMING!!!!

Interfaith Chapel along the Genesee River (Image from UR Computer Science Website)

The chapel is located in the upper portion of the building (the area encased in brick). The arches on the roof are filled with beautifully colored glass. Here are a couple pictures Alex took of the inside:

During the ceremony a number of doctors and medical students gave speeches about the honor, power, and sacrifice that come along with the white coat as well as many reminders to try to maintain a balanced life during our medical careers....good doctors are also good, well-rounded, happy people.

After all the speeches it was finally time to receive our white coats. They called us up one-by-one to the altar area where our Advisory Deans helped us put our coats on (we received a number of warnings to just hold your arms straight back while the deans shimmied the coats up your arms."DON'T TRY TO HELP", they said. The more you struggle and squirm the sillier you're going to look!)

Luckily I got my coat on without a hitch and I managed to make it back to my seat without a struggle or my legs buckling from excitement and terror! I was so nervous, so honored, so incredibly grateful and happy to be there in that moment.

I FINALLY MADE IT TO MEDICAL SCHOOL!!!

Once everyone had received their white coats, the ceremony culminated in a giant class picture on the River Campus Quad.

I'm over on the right-side of the group, second row from the front.

My friend Rachel. We went to undergrad at Mizzou together. She is currently a 4th year medical student at U of R. She was the first one to tell me about the school and has been SOOOOOO helpful on my journey to medical school.

Me and my parents

Me and Alex

Me and fellow classmates who also took the pre-matriculation course. Really great people!!!

A delicious lunch was provided for all in attendance - really great cheese tortellini, chicken, salad, desserts, and more. In the afternoon, the parents/guests were invited to attend a presentation about the UR School of Medicine, the biopsychosocial, Double Helix curriculum we would be following during medical school, and other interesting tid-bits about U of R. Meanwhile, my classmates and I attended our first "Biopsychosocial Integration Conference". During this conference we were re-introduced to the biopsychosocial model, how it can be integrated into the medical profession, and learned a little bit about the field of geriatric medicine. The best part was the patient presentation - a geriatric patient volunteered to come speak to us, tell us their medical/life story, and answer our questions about the medical profession from the patients' perspective. It was really neat! These conferences will continue through out the school year and we'll be learning about how to practice medicine with a holistic approach....not just through scientific questioning but by getting to know our patients personally and truly caring about them from every angle (Every school does not teach this approach, so I'm very lucky and excited to be at the U of R).

For celebratory dinner we went out to Dorado's on Park Avenue. Park Avenue is a big street just north of our apartment with tons of little restaurants, bars, and shops. If you ever come to visit, we would definitely take you there! Dorado's is a "Latin fusion cafe"....fancy talk for Mexican food. The food was really great, but the best part of the night was the drink I ordered - THE MEXICAN CAR CRASH. According to the menu this beverage is a "margarita plus a corona....LITERALLY". They weren't kidding:

My parents didn't have to fly back to St. Louis until Sunday morning, so we hung out with them all day Saturday......which will be described in a separate post. :0) Stay tuned!!!

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Many, many, many thanks to Alex for being my official photographer throughout the day. It's so nice to have so many incredible pictures from this very important moment in my life.

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Alex:
I was just glad I was able to take off the morning of work with things so busy and only 24 hours notice.  Laura has been so busy with all her schooling and orientation that she didn't realize she needed to let me know that the ceremony took place on a Friday morning!  Some people gotta work!  So I was able to make it for half the day and see the ceremony, have some lunch, and attend an hour lecture / family & friends orientation.  I left when they started giving tours of the medical school, so Laura will have to give me the full tour someday.  I'm so happy for Laura that her dream of being a doctor is slowly but surely coming true.  She looks so official in her white coat!

We're ALL very proud of her...  as you can see!