Looking out at the faces of the 106 first-year medical students, Joshua Hill remembered being in their shoes. It was just a year ago when he sat where they were August 18 during the UMKC School of Medicine’s annual InDOCtrination Ceremony.
“I was happily terrified of what was beginning,” said Hill, now a second-year medical student.
This year’s InDOCtrination marked the beginning of a six-year medical school journey for the Class of 2023. Hill address the audience as recipient of the school’s 2017 Richard T. Garcia Award. The honor recognizes a second-year student for outstanding leadership skills, compassion toward fellow classmates, and outstanding academic performance throughout Year 1.
More photos from 2017 InDOCtrination Ceremony
During the ceremony at the UMKC Student Union, the students were introduced to family and friends according to their docent units. After two years with their Years 1-2 docents, the students will join Years 3-6 docent units as they advance to the more intense clinical portion of their medical school training.
Sharing his first-year med school experiences, Hill talked of how his first and second-year docent, Michael Monaco, M.D., ’87, expertly and compassionately treated a particular patient.
“I knew, right there, that I had learned what kind of person I want to be as a physician,” he said. “And that’s a lesson that I was so lucky to have learned this early in life.”
Hill said that each member of this year’s class of students would soon begin to build on their own remarkable medical school experiences and forge memories that will last a lifetime.
“You will see that there is so much more to look forward to through the first year,” he said.
