By Melanie Urrejola/reporter
Community colleges can play a big role in medical field preparation, the chief diversity officer of the American Association of Medical Colleges said on March 20 on South Campus.
Mark Nivet was one of the speakers sharing personal knowledge during the AAMC Career Fair.
“How many of you would be surprised if I told you that 16 percent of our nation’s medical students currently have on their profiles that they are attending a community college?” he said.
Nivet said he doubted the audience would be surprised since they worked with the students and could see firsthand the talent on this level.
“But if I asked that question to leaders of medical schools, they would be surprised because they do not necessarily think of community colleges as a true pathway into medicine,” he said.
These community campuses have talented individuals who need the help from mentors to assist them in the right pathway to medicine, Nivet said.
“It is our role to ensure that if students have the talent, ability, skillset, aspirations, the willingness to put in the work, that we do our part collectively to ensure that those kids from low socioeconomic backgrounds get in the right pathway,” he said.
Not every young person has the same prospects to achieve their goals, Nivet said. Therefore, students should be pushed to receive high-level opportunities by today’s school leaders.
“I believe we have the best education system in the world,” he said. “We have opportunity everywhere. The challenge is, some kids have staircases to opportunities, other kids have escalators to opportunity.”
Nivet said if they fall, they may not have a way to get up.
“It is our role as educational leaders to increase the escalators to opportunities, not just be comfortable with the fact that everyone has opportunities,” he said.
After Nivet’s presentation, a panel of medical guests discussed their own professions and gave their personal insight about what their careers are about. The audience asked questions regarding details of their everyday routine as well as the process into achieving prestige positions like theirs. Then the audience separated into different workshop sections of their choosing for more in-depth professional inquiries.
