Ale­jan­dro is major­ing in Health and Human Phys­i­ol­o­gy on a Pre-Med track. Click on this link to read our full inter­view with Ale­jan­dro and dis­cov­er the dif­fer­ent ways he has expand­ed his med­ical expe­ri­ences, such as through work­ing at a clin­ic and vol­un­teer­ing at Mobile Clinic!

What oppor­tu­ni­ties or expe­ri­ences have you been able to take part in that you might not have been able to with­out the scholarship?

Thanks to the Lois Dale Schol­ar­ship, I was able to access oppor­tu­ni­ties at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Iowa that will help me on the path toward becom­ing a physi­cian. With­out the schol­ar­ship, I would not have learned about pro­grams like the Sum­mer Health Pro­fes­sion­als Edu­ca­tion Pro­gram (SHPEP) that are focused on help­ing minori­ties be suc­cess­ful in the health­care field.

What is the most inter­est­ing thing you have done or are plan­ning to do to explore or gain expe­ri­ence in your career field?

The most inter­est­ing thing I plan to do is study abroad in Guatemala and learn med­ical pro­ce­dures while expe­ri­enc­ing a new culture. 

How are you shar­ing your time and/​or tal­ents with oth­ers now? How do you hope to do so in the future?

I cur­rent­ly work at a clin­ic, which helps me expand my med­ical focus. I also vol­un­teer at Mobile Clin­ic, an orga­ni­za­tion run by health stu­dents in the Iowa City area that pro­vides free health screen­ing, pre­ven­tion, edu­ca­tion and basic health ser­vices to under-served populations.

What is some­thing impor­tant you’ve learned, out­side of class, since you’ve start­ed college?

I’ve learned that it’s impos­si­ble to jug­gle dozens of things at once. Pick what you’re most pas­sion­ate about and don’t let any­thing dis­tract you from achiev­ing your dream. 

Who is your biggest inspi­ra­tion and why?

My fam­i­ly mem­bers are my biggest inspi­ra­tion because they taught me to get up and keep mov­ing on the dark days and help oth­ers on the good days.