COM Outlook - Winter 2016

16 Nova Southeastern University the medical students, who may admit- tedly feel a bit anxious around kids. This experience taught third-year student Caitlin LeClaire the value of exposing children to different career paths and sparking an interest in medicine in them at an early age. The laughter and hugs elicited during the exchange reassured LeClaire that she had indeed chosen the correct path. Third-year student Dustin Benyo reflected on his service at a Special Olympics basketball game by saying, “I laughed, I cried, and I even got to bandage a girl giving it her all when she scraped the skin off both knees. Within a few minutes, she was back in the game, modeling great sportsmanship.” The enjoyment students gain from serving others knows no bounds, but is certainly not restricted to child’s play. Through the Senior Soiree Program, students interact and help care for nursing home residents. Additionally, through the Sigma Sigma Phi Honor Society’s SOS Program, which stands for Support Our Soldiers, but plays off of the international Morse code dis- tress call, students visit United States veterans in retirement homes. Time flies as students forget about service hours and lose themselves in story- telling, jokes, and, often, a good game of poker. Over the years, the students have shared many touching moments where they sit and really listen to the veterans, who bare their souls and reveal deep-rooted secrets our students treasure as sacred. Paying It Forward “Once I was in their shoes, and now I made it,” said Benyo about his experiences with Sigma Sigma Phi COMPals—from the wide-eyed responses of premed students getting their first exposure to osteopathic medicine by hearing the cracks of necks and demystifying muscle energy to frank discussions about their path to medical school admission. Benyo’s mentoring continues well after the events, since he freely shares his contact information with students from local universities. He and other COMPals feel so much pride when their premed mini-me mentees are seen around the HPD campus on interview days. NSU-COM students are involved in many other projects, all with the common goal of serving as role models to inspire future physicians, as well as other HPD students. In October, 15 newly trained CPR instructors were closely monitored by the college’s Department of Emergency Medical Services and Education Training while taking the reins and teaching their first American Heart Association Heartsaver Course to 30 students from Stranahan High School’s health magnet program. COM students are involved with several other pre-health mentoring projects, such as Sigma Sigma Phi’s Medical Explorers program with local high school students, the Student Osteopathic Medical Association’s Pre-SOMA at local colleges, and the AHEC Health Careers Camp for underserved high school students. Student mentors even help to supple- ment science curricula through their service in excellent programs such as Anatomy Academy and Science Alive. This is service learning at its best because it allows students the opportunity to learn and grow as much as the young adults they are mentoring. Hobbies for Humanity It was no coincidence that third-year student Anna Babaie was serving as music chair of the NSU-COM Cultural and Fine Arts Club last year when she The enjoyment students gain from serving others knows no bounds, but is certainly not restricted to child’s play. Through the Senior Soiree Program, students interact and help care for nursing home residents.