About the author: Amelia Keane is a second-year COM student who, before applying to medical school, became a New Hampshire State Representative, was the Executive Director of the New Hampshire Young Democrats, and a member of the Army Reserves. She is the current American Medical Association (AMA) Chapter President, a club that she helped bring to fruition this year. As one of the leading advocates in the AMA Club, she has been the driving force in implementing a three-part legislative advocacy series to assist her classmates in developing the tools and confidence to engage with the legislature and politics.
Before I applied, I did an open house at UNE COM, and I instantly felt that community connection that everyone talks about. The Recruitment Team and the Graduate Admissions Department were just wonderful. Specifically, the Care for the Underserved Pathways (CUP) AHEC Scholars Program definitely made the school stand out from other schools.
I was totally apolitical until 2015. As an undergrad student, I started an environmental club at my school, so I've always been into doing advocacy in that regard. That kind of led me to getting a paid internship with this organization called NextGen Climate that focuses on the intersection of climate change, clean energy, and politics. This was in 2015 and was my first introduction into politics and understanding that if I really care about all these issues, I talk about them. Being politically active is an essential component to that. That was my first introduction into advocacy, plus community and campus organizing. It wasn't too long after that when I actually was approached about running for State Rep in my area. In New Hampshire we have about 400 State Reps, which is the third largest of any legislative body in the English speaking world. Sometimes it's actually harder to find candidates to run than anything else. I'd met with my local State Reps. who were trying to find candidates, and I was just really encouraged to run at that point. I spoke with my professors, specifically my academic advisor, who strongly encouraged me to do it. Once I got the support, I decided to go ahead and do it. I couldn't work at NextGen anymore because of legal/political reasons (I couldn't run for office and work for a political organization at the same time). At that point, it was actually hard to be the Executive Director of the New Hampshire Young Democrats. I was the first staff person they ever hired. They had been doing fundraising for a bit hoping to hire someone to get them through the 2016 election cycle and they hired me in 2008 with almost no political experience at all. In New Hampshire, they’re the first in the nation, so all of the political candidates come through. It was a great way to learn very quickly about all things political and run an organization for three years until coming here to UNE COM.