Students Describe Changes Seen During Their Education

The three student speakers at Class Day recalled the journeys they had made since entering HMS and HSDM, contrasting the people they and their classmates had been when they arrived with the people they became during their education.

Photo by Liza Green, HMS Media Services Nader Nassif

Using The Wizard of Oz as a metaphor for the students’ experiences, Nader Nassif said his classmates had not changed in any significant way, but had discovered reserves of strength, competence, and intelligence that they had never known. “We remain essentially the same people we were before, with some minor exceptions,” he said. “We’re a few pounds heavier and much, much poorer, but now we realize that we have always had courage, brains, and heart.” He acknowledged that even with their newfound strengths, the grads could not have made it alone. He told the audience that those who supported and encouraged them had been the “the wizards behind the curtain.”

Photo by Steve Gilbert Carlos Saavedra

Like Nassif, Carlos Saavedra remembered being afraid as a first-year student that he would not be able to fulfill the expectations before him. He described how large and momentous the white coat seemed to him and how small he felt in comparison. As time went on, Saavedra said, he and his classmates put aside parts of themselves—some of their silliness and sense of adventure—in order to become the professional physicians they strove to be. He warned against letting the white coat become an empty shell, saying, “We have been entrusted with the great privilege of taking care of our patients’ lives, and we shouldn’t forget that. [But] no one can fit into this narrow white coat.”

He went on to advise his classmates to embrace their individual abilities and flaws. “Let’s be grateful for our unique talents,” he said, “because we can use them for the benefit of our patients, and let’s be appreciative of our unique imperfections, because they give us the depth to empathize with our patients, who, just like us, try to do the best with what life has handed them.”

Photo by Steve Gilbert James Olsen

James Olsen encouraged his fellow graduates to fulfill their potential. “The health profession needs leaders, strong and innovative,” he said. “It is our responsibility to push the boundaries of creativity and possibility.” He described a flock of Canada geese he had seen flying north, each member taking a turn leading the rest home. “By working together,” he said, “...we can make a difference.”

This Class Day, 120 MDs and 32 DMDs were conferred to the Class of 2006. Half of the graduates were women, and half men. Underrepresented minorities made up nearly a quarter of the new graduates, at 33 students.

—Rebecca Tinkelman

top