Education

Susan Kendall

So I grew up in Winston-Salem, and my mom graduated from Wake Forest. And Wake Forest has always held a really special place in my heart just because of being from this area. On top of all that, the program is such highly ranked, it's so good that it was like Wake Forest just made the most sense out of anywhere really. And coming here immediately, I could tell that they put a huge emphasis on family. They wanted us to work together. They wanted all of us to make sure that each other was passing and it wasn't just the students working together, it was the faculty working with us to get the job done. And so that was the biggest relief those first couple days when we're all panicky, trying to figure out are we going to be able to make it? And they just welcomed us with open arms and were like, "We're family. We're going to get you through this regardless if it's school related, personal related, we are here for you." And they said it so many times that it was like, "Okay, I believe you. We can do this."

Thomas Sullivan

One thing that really impressed me right off the bat was we were exposed to patients on... I think it was a day two, and coming from a medical background and having worked patients before, I knew how important that was and to my education, to my training, and of course all my classmates who were all going to be peers one day. Working together and getting that early patient interaction is so important. And so I was really impressed whenever I saw that. It really kind of told me, Hey, I'm in the right place. This is the training that I hoped for.

Arianna Nassar

I have a very non-traditional background. I really was more focused into medicine, but I had a little bit of hiccups along the way. My mom was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's at 48 years old. My Meemaw and my mom's mom also has Alzheimer's and I was their primary caregiver for a really long time before my mom passed away. And so in the moment it felt like I would not get to this point. But taking care of them and just them the best care from the school that provided the hospitals really pushed me to try my hardest to get to where I am right now.

And that's just a testament to my resiliency and I'm just thankful for Wake for even letting me in and letting me showcase what I can do and how I can be there for my patients just like they were there for me and my family during that hard time. At Wake, people really want you to do well and succeed. I knew that I wanted that to be where I would end up for PA school because I know personally the type of people and providers that Wake produces and I want to be a part of that.

Kimberly Gordon

So my experience here with the School of Medicine started before we were part of the School of Medicine. I graduated from the Wake Forest Baptist Hospital program. I was then faculty member after it moved to the medical school. So to be part of both of those things, be part of the history and traditional program as it was, and then to be part of Wake Forest School of Medicine and being rolled into something much bigger and feeling like you're a part of something much bigger. Of course the resources, the beautiful building we're sitting in, the access to experts and really feeling a part of a university and something really historic and you see it every day when you walk in here through the School of Medicine.

Tammy Marie Allen

When I started here in 1998, Wake Forest was doing some innovative things with their medical education that has now become the norm for medical schools. We really wanted our scholarship to benefit those students that were financially disadvantaged, to be able to give someone the opportunity that I had. Because when I started medical school, I didn't have any money and so Wake Forest was... They gave me a scholarship and that made such a difference and I just want other students to be able to experience that. And I'm just so excited that what we're doing is going to make that possible for someone else. I've been telling my husband for years that I wanted to give back, and then at some point we talked about it and we were at a point financially in our lives that we could do that. And he said, "Okay, let's do it."

Darryl Watson

Giving back, and I've watched Tammy over the years and thought about all of the wonderful things that she said about here, and I said that, who am I to get in the way of a scholarship for a student coming in. Whatever kind of scholarship it is, anytime you try to give the student something, I think that is beneficial. And Tammy is wonderful in trying to make sure that she give back to Wake Forest.

Katherine A. Murray

I personally had my own financial struggles. I grew up in a large family of seven. To be quite honest, we weren't poor, but we didn't have any extras, I would say. Both of my parents are, I guess immigrants. My mother's from Japan and my father's from Guam. And so they instilled in us the value of education. It was important for me to get a scholarship as an undergrad, and that's how I made it through my undergraduate days. I also received financial assistance to go to PA school, so I'm very grateful for that. And of course, I want to help pay that forward too. That just is innate in us as providers to give our heart and to be stewards to the community. And I think that should just be in everyone's heart to give back and to have that heart forgiving.

Thomas Sullivan

I wanted to come here so badly, but the fact that I was losing my income and we were trying to start a family made it certainly a difficult decision. This was going to be a change for us, and we knew it would be challenging, but getting those scholarships made that a lot easier. It made the decision to come to Wake that much more, I think, tangible, realistic. It certainly made me feel like, okay, this is the right thing. This is the right thing for me, for my family, and it has been the right thing.

Arianna Nassar

They chose me of all people. Like am I really good enough to have the scholarship? What did I do differently than anybody else to get this? So I did a lot of reflecting and just being very thankful that they were able to see something in me in order to give me the scholarship that I didn't really see in myself. And so I just had to just think and reflect on that. But I was very, very thankful. I still am very, very thankful.

W. Hampton Lefler, Jr.

I attended undergraduate school at Chapel Hill University of North Carolina, and my grades were good, so I thought I would get in at Carolina. So I didn't apply to any other schools immediately, but when I found out about the Reynolds Scholarships at Wake Forest, I applied to Wake Forest. So I called the Dean of Admissions at Carolina and told him that I was going to go to Wake Forest because of the scholarship. Since the scholarship I got was so important to me, I think it would be important to other students, and we were financially able to do something in the way of scholarships. It was something that my wife, Katie and I wanted to do to pay back inaudible to what they had given us. You give to your church, you give to your cities and towns, and you certainly ought to give to the entity that educated you so you could be successful.

Susan Kendall

This program's really challenged me to be an advocate for the profession and support students along the way. Knowing what it's like here, we're not making an income, we're trying to just get by pretty much financially and having this money. It just motivates me to do that same thing for somebody one day because if I could give that somebody else that same feeling of here's an unexpected, you got this scholarship to take the load off, it's super helpful and it's a good feeling for me, and I would like to provide that for somebody as well one day.

Tammy Marie Allen

We've been given so much as physicians and we make good money, and how can you not give back? And how can you not help the next generation of students that are going to be saving lives and doing the type of work that we're doing?