OCTOBER April 30, 20141, 2014
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No.VOL. 30 Vol.51 50 ISSUEIssue NO.6
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Boonshoft School of Medicine attempts to connect students with campus Alan Hieber News Writer Hieber.2@wright.edu
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oonshoft School of Medicine students are a part of the Wright State community, but the rigors of their studies can interfere with some of the connections they could make with the university. Associate Dean of Admissions for Student Affairs and Admissions of the Boonshoft School of medicine Dr. Gary LeRoy explains that the bubble of White Hall certainly has an effect on the students’ interactions on campus. “We do make efforts to try to get them outside of this place and
make them recognize that there is more to this university than just White Hall and the medical school,” LeRoy said. “The rigors of the curriculum are such that they do not have a whole lot of luxury to do a lot of undergraduate activities.” Former Boonshoft student Paul Krebs agrees that some of his chances of campus interactions were negatively affected by his constant focus on medical studies. “When I was on campus, I spent the majority of my time in White Hall because that is where all my classes were. I rarely needed to venture away
from White Hall when on campus. We grew very close as a medical school class. The downside is that we did not have much interaction with the rest of the students on campus,” said Krebs. Although Boonshoft students have limits on their campus connections, there are still several activities they prefer to participate in. “They do utilize the Student Union quite a bit. They will go over there to use the aquatics center and workout facilities. They’re always making a beeline over there,” said LeRoy. Another potential downside of the busy schedule is a lack of
communication between those students and undergraduate students interested in medicine. “I think there are several ways medical school students could connect more with the undergraduate students, particularly with those students in the College of Nursing and Health and those interested in medicine,” said Krebs. Several methods are used to address the problem. The Wright State chapter of the Student National Medical Association (SNMA) is a group of minority students either in medical school or interested in medical school. Boonshoft students host an an-
nual seminar in which they advise students interested in medicine. On Oct. 18, Wright State will host Medicine Education Opportunities Day, on which people from Ohio and several other states will visit to discuss opportunities in medicine. Although Wright State does not have an official pre-medical major, there is a post-bachelor’s certificate program that functions much like a pre-medical minor in which students who might not have met medical school admission requirements in their previous major can catch up.