There’s a new active club on campus and it’s called the Pre-Health Club! It’s a club for anyone interested in professional school after graduation.
There are seven disciplines to the club, which are chiropractic, dentistry, medicine, optometry, pharmacy, podiatry, and veterinary (although there is a specific veterinary club).
One of the main goals of this club is to create a supportive environment for those pursuing professional schools after graduation. Applying to these schools requires a lot of time and dedication. As a freshman, I was able to talk to my pre-health adviser about these types of things, but I wanted to be able to talk to other students about their experiences as well. I was very overwhelmed because I knew that I needed to do a lot, but I didn’t know what I had to do and how to do it. Luckily, I made friends who are also on the pre-med track and we supported each other. These same friends are also on the executive board with me this year, along with some other awesome pre-med students that I’ve gotten to know.
The executive board is as follows:
Advisor: Mrs. Gustafson-Ropski
President: Chelsea Grey
Vice President: Jordyn Buchanan
Treasurer: Kasie Inserra
Secretary: Ally Owens (me)
Service: Caleigh Adams and Jae Seung Lee
Public Relations: Karissa Jones
Events Coordinator: Sydney Khreis
The club was created last year, but it was not active. This year, we have a brand-new eboard and are working on several upcoming events. It has also been helpful that so many people reach out to us! Gannon has several connections within the community and various health professionals. I’ve gotten to shadow Gannon Alumni in both cardiology and emergency medicine. I learned about who to contact for shadowing from a friend, so this is something that I’d like to advertise more so that other students know that it’s available.
Our advisor, Mrs. Gustafson-Ropski has been incredible. She comes to every eboard meeting and helps us keep things organized. She also lets us know promptly whenever people contact her about wanting to work with the university with events or service.
Currently, we have multiple events coming up in October and November. We’re sending students to primary care day at Penn State Medical School (which I was fortunate enough to attend last year), planning an event with a LECOM student, having some bake sales and having different representatives from medical schools come to campus and speak.
If you’re interested in attending a meeting to learn more about the club, join our engageU page and you can start receiving emails from us!
