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| When your face is on your school's wall #Blessed |
On day three of graduation week, I received the Mason W.
Pressly Memorial Medal award during a beautiful reception held in my honor. For
those who aren’t aware, this medal (in memory of one of PCOM’s co-founders) is
presented to students for their outstanding achievement and service to the
College, the community and the osteopathic profession, is the highest award a
student can receive at either PCOM campus, and only one is given each year on
each campus. This award also comes with a plaque containing a portrait of the
recipient placed on the school’s wall for the entire year. Since starting
medical school, I always stopped and admired the portraits of the year’s
recipient, and said that I wanted that to be me one day. These were AMAZING
individuals who not only left their mark on my school, but the last three
recipients were people who I personally knew to be caring, hard-working, and just
downright awesome. To even be nominated for this award was a true honor,
and I am happy that I finally accomplished my dream of having my picture placed
on the wall as I joined the same ranks as these wonderful individuals.
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| The award reception program |
The day of my award reception was actually a bittersweet
one. I was excited to have my closest family, friends, and loved ones in town
for the event, but an hour before the reception, I received a call saying that
my great-grandmother had passed earlier that afternoon. My parents were still
driving into town and hadn’t heard the news, so I then proceeded to give my mom
a call with the news. I was devastated and felt like I got hit with a ton of
bricks, but there was no time to be sad and process my emotions since I had to
be somewhere soon that required a happy face.
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| The look on my parents' faces is priceless |
The reception itself was so nice that it helped take my mind
off my great-grandmother’s passing. It was such a blessing to have those
closest to me in attendance, and the look on my parents’ faces when they saw the program and realized I was the sole honoree was priceless. The school also invited some of
my favorite professors along with SNMA members, and I enjoyed their presence.
Additionally, I had the opportunity to meet members of the PCOM Board of
Trustees, and it was nice being able to chat with both my school’s Dean and the
President of the school who were also in attendance.
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| Love this! |
I was presented with my medal by my school’s SNMA advisor,
and then I gave a short speech. Seeing my parents get all teary-eyed during the
introductions and my speech absolutely made my day. My daughter even smiled a
bit (which is the full extent of her getting emotional during stuff like this
LOL). The medal even came with a beautifully engraved wooden box that I will
forever cherish.
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| So happy to have these wonderful people in attendance |
After all the speeches were done, it was time to take
pictures. As usual, my daughter was more interested in eating the food than
taking a million pictures, but I managed to get her to pose for a few. I also
made sure to get some great pictures with other people in the room.
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| I love my family |
All-in-all, the reception was an incredible blessing and my
favorite highlight of graduation week. Even though my great-grandmother passed, I know she was smiling down on me that day, and it made the event
even more special. If you’d like to know more about the award and see the
official press release, feel free to check it out in the “features” section of
my blog. My next post will be what everyone has been waiting for: Graduation
Day!
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