M1: Retreats Are for Med Students Too!

What sets Georgetown apart from other medical schools is its sense of community. A spirit of solidarity and commitment to collegiality is present every day. Going forward from the moment Dean Stephen Ray Mitchell addresses first year medical students at their White Coat ceremony, students embrace the driving force and common purpose at Georgetown embodied in the spirit of cura personalis. This Jesuit philosophy was the call that led seven Georgetown medical students to design and lead a reflective retreat for the incoming Medical School Class of 2020.

The first-year Med Students and their intrepid mentors.

I can still remember coming to medical school full of excitement and anxiety; I was about to begin a journey that I had worked so hard towards, but knew very little about. As one of the retreat coordinators, my goal was to help the first year students harness the excitement that I remembered, while also calming the anxiety that came along with it. Our purpose in holding the retreat was to provide a welcoming environment for incoming students to reflect on their own path that brought them to that moment, and embrace the transformation ahead as they began their academic careers at Georgetown.

After listening to the incoming class recount their retreat experiences, my fellow coordinators and I believe we have created something special. The opportunity to have a dialogue with people embarking on a similar journey, while hearing from the individuals who came before them was greatly valued by the incoming class. I am confident that this retreat is the first of many, as future Georgetown medical students will pick up the torch and heed the Jesuit call of the magis.

This article was written by Cameron Fick, M’19.