When they arrived for their first day at WMed in 2014, Dr. Wendy Lackey can't help but think of all the things that students in the inaugural Class of 2018 had in common with her and her colleagues in the medical school's Department of Biomedical Sciences.
They all "ì the students and faculty "ì were taking a chance on the new medical school, deciding they would be the pioneers who helped shape the institution, its curriculum, its direction, and its future, she said.
"We were all in this together,"ù said Lackey, an assistant professor who came to Kalamazoo in 2013 after more than a decade at Michigan State University''s College of Human Medicine and College of Osteopathic Medicine. "I felt like we all we're saying, "òOK, we're taking this big deep breath and going for it.'"ù
Lackey and other faculty in the Department of Biomedical Sciences were the first teachers that students in the Class of 2018 had at WMed. They guided them through the first two years of medical school, instructing them on the intricacies of the different organ systems, guiding them through the science behind medicine, equipping them for the clinical applications that would come in their third and fourth years.
Now, there's a mix of emotions "ì pride, excitement, sadness "ì for Dr. Lackey and other faculty as they prepare to bid farewell to the 48 students who make up WMed's inaugural class. The students will graduate in less than a month during a ceremony on Sunday, May 13, at WMU's Miller Auditorium.
"It blows my mind that we're already graduating this class because in some ways it feels like yesterday,"ù Dr. Lackey said. "This place is very special. The culture our students have created of camaraderie and love for one another is amazing. I have never seen that at any other institution."ù
Dr. Bonny Dickinson, an associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences, came to WMed after stints teaching at Harvard Medical School, the University of West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine and LSU School of Medicine.
From day one, Dr. Dickinson said she was impressed by the students in the Class of 2018, the excitement and inquisitiveness they brought to bear when they came face-to-face with professors in the team-based learning halls.
"This class had a very cohesive, genuine warmth to it and all of this was in a setting of enormous stress for everybody,"ù Dr. Dickinson said. "I got to know, on a very deep level, more of the students than any other class I've ever taught in my career."ù
Dr. Dickinson said her decision to come to WMed prior to the arrival of the Class of 2018 stemmed from her excitement about the new institution and the willingness of leadership to embrace thinking "outside of the box."ù
"Coming to WMed was a chance to do it right and I really appreciated that all of the faculty wanted to do something better than what they had done or seen at previous institutions,"ù Dr. Dickinson said. "There were no barriers here and (founding dean Dr. Hal B. Jenson) was really instrumental in that. He was open to thinking outside of the box and bringing technology into the classroom."ù
Dr. Greg Vanden Heuvel, an alumnus of Western Michigan University, came to WMed after more than a decade at the University of Kansas School of Medicine. He said he was drawn back to Kalamazoo by the opportunity to teach at the medical school, which is a collaboration of WMU, Borgess Health, and Bronson Healthcare.
"We used to call (the Class of 2018) the pioneers," Dr. Vanden Heuvel said. "They came here and they took a chance."
Dr. Brandy Shattuck, who is a learning community scholar-adviser and an assistant professor in the Department of Pathology, said the bond between faculty and the inaugural MD class was formed, in a lot of ways, through the growth they experienced together as part of WMed being a new medical school.
She recalled how, when the medical school's new W.E. Upjohn M.D. Campus opened in 2014 in downtown Kalamazoo, the students and faculty both had to learn where things were in the building.
"I think we all experienced our growing pains together,"ù Dr. Shattuck said.
In the end, Dr. Maria Sheakley, an associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences, said she believes the Class of 2018 has left an indelible mark on the medical school. She said the students provided a tremendous amount of input that helped shape the curriculum at WMed "and every aspect of the school."ù
"We got to interact with them in a way that we don't normally get to to shape what the school is today,"ù Dr. Sheakley said. "It is impossible to comprehend that they are finishing medical school. It makes me tear up thinking about them not being here.
"It all happened in a flash."ù
Dr. Kelly Quesnelle, an assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences, agreed with Sheakley. For Quesnelle, her hiring at WMed in 2014 was her first faculty appointment and she said she always appreciated the opportunity she got to grow as an educator with the Class of 2018 as her first students.
Even more, Quesnelle said she has enjoyed watching the growth of WMed in the last four years. She recalled how the area outside her office and the offices of her colleagues at the W.E. Upjohn M.D. Campus was barren when they first moved into the new building. They joked, she said, about filling the area in with a volleyball court.
Now, today, that area is filled with cubicles and desks occupied by curriculum coordinators from the medical school's Department of Educational Affairs.
"It's hard not to be self-reflective,"ù Dr. Quesnelle said of her mindset as the Class of 2018 prepares to graduate. "I've grown a lot in the last four years and I'm really happy that our fourth-year students gave me that chance and helped me to grow. I'm forever grateful to them for that."
"I'm certainly a better educator than I was four years ago and that's because of them."ù
Dr. Dickinson said the last four years have been transformational for her and her colleagues, as well as the students in the Class of 2018.
"Boy, it was fast,"ù Dr. Dickinson said of the last four years. "The transformation is really remarkable but this class had a real partnership with the faculty and administration. We depended on them and they depended on us and there was a mutual respect and admiration."
"I think they recognized we were in this for them, that our only reason for being here are the students."ù
Of the students, the pioneers, of the Class of 2018, Dickinson added: "I think they came into medical school for the right reasons and they're leaving medical school with those same values. They all wanted to do better by people and even though this was a tough journey they're leaving with those values and that optimism and excitement intact."ù