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Strong pipeline programs are vital for students in rural and underserved communities, said Thesla Berne-Anderson, director of college and pre-college outreach at the College of Medicine.“ Their challenges come from a lack of opportunities,” she said.“ Their schools might not have up-to-date resources and technology that can engage students. They may lack mentors and role models. And most of all – especially with large class sizes – what’ s lacking is consistent involvement from individuals who are capable of encouraging, empowering and engaging them day to day.”
SSTRIDE ALUMNI WHO HAVE ATTENDED THE COLLEGE OF MEDICINE:
Uchenna Ikediobi Class of 2010 Status: Practicing Instructor in Medicine and Infectious Diseases VA Connecticut Healthcare System and Yale School of Medicine New Haven, Conn.
Brett Thomas Class of 2014 Status: Resident Family Medicine Residency Program Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center Winston-Salem, N. C.
Kany Aziz Class of 2015 Status: Resident West Virginia University School of Medicine Internal Medicine / Pediatrics Residency Charleston, W. Va.
Jonathan Hester Class of 2017 Status: Resident Psychiatry Residency Program Wright-Patterson Medical Center Dayton, Ohio
SSTRIDE alumni currently in medical school at Florida State: Class of 2020 – Jacob Hentges and Tarvis Peacock; Class of 2021 – Ciara Grayson, Jacqueline Hanners, Cydney Terryn and Nora Waryoba.
WHY IT MATTERS
As chief diversity officer for the Association of American Medical Colleges, David Acosta has an appreciation for programs like SSTRIDE and for the medical students those programs produce.“ It’ s especially important for students who have been historically underrepresented or come from disadvantaged backgrounds,” he said.“ Disadvantaged means not just from a financial standpoint, but also from an educational standpoint that they haven’ t enjoyed the riches and the privileges of being in a school district that’ s able to provide them every opportunity possible.” Acosta, who spoke( and listened) at the FSU College of Medicine in January, has a personal history with outreach programs.“ Most of the kids in them, like me, don’ t have parents that have gone through the educational system and know how to navigate it. My dad was taken out of sixth grade because he was physically built to pick in the orange fields. My mom was taken out of school in eighth grade because she was big enough to work on the farm,” Acosta said.“ They were upset because they wanted the education. What they instilled in our brain is that – you’ re not going to work like we did, you’ re going to [ get an education ].“ By ninth grade people are starting to ask you what you want to do. If nobody has told you –‘ I think you could be a nurse, I think you could be a doctor’ – that doesn’ t even cross your mind,” he said.“ Pipelines have helped them make that realization. Their mindset changes from‘ You can’ t do it, you’ re an impostor, you don’ t belong here,’ to a mindset that they can do it.“ Pipeline programs can identify the talent in a kid, and it might be the first person – other than Mom and Dad – that said to them,‘ You can do this.’ And that means the world. It’ s as simple as that, and your SSTRIDE program has a great reputation because of that. They have been very successful for 25 years.”