A bittersweet ending to week four as we bid farewell to two of our dedicated MEDLIFE presenters, Maurico Parra and Biz Shenk. They’ve wrapped up their legs of the tour and are heading back home (Miami for Mauricio and Lima for Biz to continue her yearround internship with MEDLIFE).
Oct. 16, 2012:
After having spent a week visiting several schools in south Florida, it was time to start heading back up north. Today I arrived in Tampa at the University of South Florida, another school on my tour with no previous history of MEDLIFE chapters. After getting slightly lost in its immense campus, I was finally able to find the College of Public Health just in time to meet with the future president to prepare for the presentation. The overall turn-out was good, and while the room may not have been packed, at MEDLIFE we focus more on getting higher quality rather than quantity. Every student who came seemed to be very excited and passionate about getting involved and attending a clinic in order to make a significant impact. The highlight of the meeting was when a previous FSU MEDLIFE member, whom I attended my first mobile clinic in Ecuador with, was in attendance. It was very heartwarming to see that even in graduate school and a different city, students made an effort and found ways to still be involved with our organization. Aside from another school in Jacksonville tomorrow, my tour is essentially over.
Overall, it was a great couple of weeks visiting various universities and spreading MEDLIFEs mission across the state of Florida. At the end of it all, I probably met with close to 100 students. 100 young and motivated individuals who will continue raising awareness and doing their part to help improve the lives of the one billion+ people without access to healthcare across the world.
Mauricio visited a total of 11 campuses during his short stint on the tour. We appreciate his excellent effort to promote MEDLIFE and take on a huge responsibility such as this one and continue to volunteer for the cause, well after his internship had already ended. We are sure that he will continue to be an integral part of MEDLIFE for years to come. Thank you again, Mauricio!
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Oct. 17, 2012:
On Tuesday I went to the University of Maryland and was very pleased with the enthusiasm and the great turnout of new students. They are planning to send a large group of members on a Mobile Clinic to Lima this winter, and have several others looking into going during summer. It was also nice to see another beautiful campus and get to know more of our dedicated executive board members. They are a highly motivated group of students, and it is clear that they will see continued success in both fundraising and getting help to the communities we serve!
The experience on the tour has been truly awesome. It was very beneficial and important to get in direct contact with the students leaders who are helping to create a solid foundation of members to enable the organization to continue growing. I’m sad to go, but I’m also very excited to get back to Lima and participate/help out in my first Mobile Clinic this November!
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Oct. 16, 2012:
University of Chicago was great! They had a strong turnout and an enthusiastic e-board that I think will put together some excellent fundraisers, plus they provided some delicious Mexican food! I’m very excited for the University of Michigan chapter. Melanie is a great student leader and truly has a knack for fundraising. She was able to get Tropical Smoothie to donate 100 smoothies for the One Billion + Campaign meeting, and afterwards she took the leftover smoothies over to the library and collected donations for MEDLIFE in exchange for a smoothie. She already has several fundraisers planned, including a 5K road race on Sunday, November 4th. I look forward to returning to Ann Arbor and participating in the 5K fundraiser!
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Oct. 19, 2012:
Juan is currently giving a talk at McGill University and will be updating us very shortly! For now, enjoy some lovely pictures from Ottawa:
