The decision to pursue medicine was a rather straightforward one for me in comparison to many young people out there who are trying to find their career paths. From a young age, I was drawn to the medical field. My earliest memory was at the age of 7. I remember stumbling upon a tv program which was showing a rare glimpse of the inside of an operating room. The images were filled with healthcare workers, nurses, doctors, and staff getting ready to perform surgery. I was mesmerized by the intricate team work and movement (choreography) I was visualizing, which was in fact the preparation of the operating room for the surgical procedure. The movement and communication between the staff was so fluid, almost like a well-rehearsed dance.
Once the room was ready, what came next was even more mind blowing. The patient was about to undergo brain surgery and I found myself fixated on the screen, unable to pull my eyes away for a single moment. It was the first time I saw human anatomy and a surgical procedure in action. I was also trying to process the complexity of what I was actually seeing and feeling. To my surprise, I was not uncomfortable with the graphic images. On the contrary, I was intrigued and amazed. I was experiencing my very own amazement of the human body and the miracle of science all at once. I knew that very moment that I was going to pursue medicine.
This curiosity and pursuit continued to be reinforced at every stage of my life. I gravitated towards the sciences and enjoyed every moment tied into the scientific field, whether it consisted of participating in science fairs or leading the demonstrations in class during basic anatomy and dissections. I knew what path I was destined to follow. I considered myself rather fortunate to have had this epiphany at such a young age. The path towards medicine or any career is not a straightforward one for many people. Each individual has their own journey into their career and no two people usually arrive at their final destination in the same manner. I've often reflected on how fortunate I was to have had a clear path and vision for myself in comparison to some colleagues of mine who struggled with finding their true passions. Whether it was in the field of medicine, engineering, finance or law to name a few, most people I met in life would embark on their journey undecided about their future careers. This was a perfectly acceptable scenario for a young person starting college, in fact college was supposed to be the playing field where you go off to discover yourself, your identity, your passions and your ultimate career. During my college years, I often reflected on how streamlined my path was as a B.S.-D.O. seven-year combined medical program student as opposed to the undergraduate student who was an undecided major. Naturally, it made sense that college should be a time for growth, reflection, exposure to sampling of what’s out there so that a young person can find their true identity. It was when I got to medical school and was surrounded by classmates who were all studying medicine that I once again reflected on the fact that many students made it to this medical path because of good fortune, mentorship and opportunities, but, I couldn’t help but think of the all the others who may have been left behind as they struggled to find their passions in a timely manner.
I often thought about how there needs to be a change in the educational system, to provide tools to students in order to make them ready for college, post-graduate education and the workforce. During my medical school rotations, I appreciated the structure of the curriculum and the sampling that one has in multiple fields to not only enhance one’s knowledge of medicine but also to help a young student find their path along their medical journey. This concept was just so straightforward, I could not grasp why this was not applied for all students and at earlier stages when they need to see the true world from behind the four walls of the classroom.
With a passion for education and mentorship and a need to reach students, I established Align Us Inc, which is a 501c3 not-for-profit organization that provides career mentorship program to high school students. The goal was simple, give students access to industry leaders, motivated mentors, career titans who could then help shape the future for a young person. The students enrolled in the mentorship program are paired up with a mentor one-on-one, who then with the guidance of our mentorship curriculum and training provides invaluable career guidance to the students. We established a robust mentorship curriculum which provides a foundation for our mentors and mentees. High school students in grades 10-12 are able to see what a day in the life of a particular industry looks like to see if that career may be the right fit for them. This unique career experience is not something that a student can. By getting students outside of the classroom and into the real world, they can see what careers exist out there, what the path into a certain field of study looks like and what careers would they be best suited for. Students apply for the mentorship sessions which take place twice a year in the fall or spring session. Their application also consists of an industry rank list which allows them to lists the industry choices in preference. Students are generally matched with their top five industry choices based on timing of application, number of mentor-student rank choices in a particular mentorship cycle and geographic proximity of mentors to mentees. Students who may not receive their top choice are invited to participate again for an opportunity to match with industry of choice. The program has been quite successful with tremendous outreach and constant need to broaden/increase our mentor database to keep up with the high demands/wanted of the mentees.
In addition to our one-on-one mentorship program we provide various workshops for students in grades 9-12, which include college essay writing workshop, resume writing workshop, public speaking workshop, financial literacy workshop to name a few. This year, Align Us held its’ very first conference titled Dream it, See it, Be it! Pathway to Your Future. The event was a unique leadership conference that was for students between the ages of thirteen to twenty-two. The conference brought together renowned industry titans from across the country and world, Tedx speakers, leaders in business, finance, medicine, media & arts to speak directly and candidly to our students. The sessions consisted of “Mastering Public Speaking, Getting Ahead and Staying There, When Passion Drives Creativity, How to Ace an Interview, Be More to Achieve More & Into the Lion’s Den” a unique competition where students had the opportunity to pitch their business proposals to our serial entrepreneurs, finance and business leaders with a $1000 grand prize for the winning pitch. The conference also allowed for ample networking so that students could interact one-on-one with our mentors to gain insight from them.
The program continues to grow and is rewarding for both our mentors and mentees who are matriculated at prestigious universities, Stamford, Berkley and NYU to name a few. Mentors have the reward of giving back to students and helping to shape a young person’s future, as well as being able to network with colleagues in same and different industries.
The future goal of Align Us is to continue to grow across the country and gain more mentors in order to be able to provide much needed career guidance for our youth. Additional goals would be to host yearly leadership conferences across various cities in the United States in order to reach students where they are.