A class of 109 first-year students marched into the UMKC Student Union for the UMKC School of Medicine’s annual InDOCtrination ceremony on Friday, Aug. 16, taking the first step in a six-year journey toward earning their medical degrees.
Mary Anne Jackson, M.D., interim dean of the School of Medicine and a 1978 graduate, shared her experience as a new medical student.
“I was excited to start this new journey and just slightly overwhelmed to think this was my first step toward becoming a physician,” she said.
She told the class that the next six years would be some of the most challenging, but also most memorable and most life-changing of their lives.
“Each and every day, you will make a difference in people’s lives,” Jackson said. “Embrace that.”
This year’s incoming class is comprised of 76 women and 33 men from 15 states spread from California to Massachusetts.
Corrine Workman, a second-year student, received the school’s Richard T. Garcia Memorial Award. It is given annually to a second-year student for outstanding leadership skills, compassion toward fellow students, and outstanding academic performance throughout Year 1.
“I remember meeting people that I now consider my closest friends,” Workman said. “I also learned about taking care of myself and people around me.”
She encouraged members of the new Year 1 class to be patient with themselves when they face challenges and to be a help to others.
Each of the students was then introduced to family and friends with their Year 1 docent units and then listed to a reading of the Oath of Physicians. It is the same oath the class will recite in six year upon graduation.
