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Connecting with Future Doctors

Just months into our first year, the BCOM faculty and staff have already been engaging with young students and encouraging them to pursue careers in medicine. Here are a few of the recent success stories:

  • A group of 80 high school students from NMSU’s Upward Bound program received a special tour of the BCOM campus following the Community Open House. The students, who came from both the Las Cruces and Gadsden School districts, spent an hour getting a firsthand look at our high-tech teaching tools and talking with faculty, staff, and students.
  • Justin McHorse, Sam Gutierrez, and Hal Jr. (one of our hi-fidelity simulation mannequins) represented BCOM at the Mescalero Apache School College and Career Fair where they engaged with students from elementary through high school. Hal Jr. caught the eyes of many and spurred their interests in the medical field as a potential career. Many of the higher education recruiters were interested to learn more about BCOM, especially the representative from the UNM School of Medicine’s BA/MD degree program. The presence of Hal Jr. set BCOM’s table apart from UNM SOM’s table. The BCOM team spoke with promising future applicants including a senior from Ruidoso High School with a strong ACT score and a 4.5 GPA who was encouraged to apply for the NMSU/BCOM Osteopathic Medicine Pathway program.
  • Dr. Richard Selinfreund’s Medical Explorer Post recently accepted its first group of high school students who will, over the course of the next eight months, learn anatomy, first aid, and wilderness survival skills. They will also have opportunities to shadow physicians and tour hospitals. Dr. Selinfreund envisions following the Explorer students all the way through undergraduate school and into medical school, and even helping them with financial aid opportunities. The first session was held on October 27 during which Sam Gutierrez taught the Medical Explorers Basic Life Support and Advanced CPR and presented each student with a custom-made first aid kit.