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The Thomas Aquinas College (TAC) Medical Society is a new organization for pre-medical, pre-dental, and pre-nursing students at Thomas Aquinas College.

The College's curriculum is a strong liberal arts program, and pre-health students, like us, choose it as their undergraduate education because professional schools, like medical schools and nursing programs, have seen liberal arts students excel as caregivers. But TAC's fixed, four-year program makes it difficult for us to compete for medical, or dental, or nursing schools.

Previously, each of us would have to work this out alone; now, the Society can make things easier. We support each other, share resources and suggestions, and prepare together for entrance exams, such as the MCAT. We also attended a lecture by a visiting professor from the Medical University of South Carolina as a group. (See attached pictures)

To become competitive candidates for professional schools, and to fulfill our dreams of becoming good physicians, we'd like to supplement our liberal education with more activities. For instance, a research project or a dissection. Our difficulty, though, is in funding. A few moments on the internet told us that dissections and research kits would be more expensive than we could collectively afford.

We are determined to become good doctors and nurses, and our work toward making ourselves competitive shows that.
We hope to do even better with the help of DoSomething.org.
For more information and to see more pictures, please visit our website, at www.freewebs/tacmedical.

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Ascending Africa's highest mountain to provide medical supplies for Tanzania!

In the summer of 2008, I will be journeying to Kenya on a study abroad program through Michigan State University. After this program, I'm going to Tanzania to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest mountain at 19,340 feet. I am doing this not only for personal reasons; I am climbing to benefit the people of East Africa.

My project, Kilimanjaro: Climbing to Cure (KCC), seeks to find sponsors and raise $14,000 to send a 40-foot container shipment of medical supplies to support the Gonja Lutheran Hospital. The hospital, a rural medical facility in northern Tanzania near Kilimanjaro, is in dire need of renovation and basic medical supplies. It supports a catchment area of 124,000 people, yet has a mere forty beds and employs only two doctors. None of the money raised will fund my personal costs; all donations go directly towards shipping the medical supplies.

The container shipment may include many types of medical supplies and equipment such as portable x-ray machines, ultrasound machines, operating tables and lamps, surgical kits, autoclaves, caps, gowns, gloves, needles, midwife kits, and palliative care kits, among other things.

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Students attending Mississippi State University have for some time craved more dance opportunities outside of the few existing dance groups under MSU student organizations. These organizations are great and definitely worthy of recognition for the work that they do, but lack the true individual expression desired by most dancers at this university. MSU offers only two dance classes and some dance based aerobics courses, but although the Sanderson Center is equipped with wall-mounted barres, the studios really are insufficient for hosting real skill based dance courses. Students accustomed to performing for large audiences and executing elaborate pieces on grand stages are forced to suppress their talents upon deciding to attend Mississippi State or fight for one of the few positions on the school’s dance teams. As a performer in musicals and music recitals here on campus, I have personally observed both the raw and trained talents of several undiscovered dancers at this university, and have never understood why these students have not been afforded the sort of outlet they need to express themselves and flaunt their talents before members of our wonderful institution. Fortunately, things are set to change in the spring semester of 2008! Two students and one faculty member have finally taken on the challenge of correcting this injustice. After several inquiries as to why we avid performers do not do more of the art form we love so much in stage settings on campus, Kinesiology professor, Deborah Funderburk, myself, senior student, Danielle Williams, and sophomore Lauren White, have teamed up to form a new dance theater for the Mississippi State University community: TERPSICHORE.
Terpsichore, so named after the Greek Muse of Dance, will be a dance theater performance organization that will focus primarily on skill building and stage performance. The organization will serve as a creative channel and a sort of therapeutic release from the stresses of schoolwork and classes for the dancers. Participants will be given an opportunity to improve on any skills they may already possess in dance and, of course, discover new skills in several different forms of the art. They will be allotted the resources needed to maintain and progress in flexibility as well, which is one major concern of most inactive dancers at this time. Terpsichore’s main objective, however, will be to promote awareness of the importance of dance education and presentation for Mississippi State University students to essential MSU officials. We hope to gain the support of the surrounding cities as well.

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Using funds provided through the GameStop Grants and other community partners, State of Mine, a youth run non profit organization dedicated to decreasing stigma and increasing awareness surrounding mental health in the community, will hold a series of focus groups with college and university students in the Washington Metro area. These focus groups will specifically be with students from various areas in the campuses with the objective of finding out the students perspective on mental health services on the campus, the students perspective on the amount of stigma on a university campus, and what can be done about it from a students point of view. The results of the focus groups will direct the further projects for State of Mine. For information or to become involved please email aimhoffkerr@yahoo.com or stateofmine2007@yahoo.com 

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I chose the "education" topic as my cause because that is precisely what I was struggling for. As an out-spoken student activist, I defended proper practices in the university environment. At Ohio University-- as well as countless other universities and colleges around the country-- the system is so extremely "top-down" that the students have absolutely no control over their education, the environment in which they live, decisions which are made on their behalf, as well as processes that are completed behind closed doors by administrators and trustees. As a response to this, I organized a "vote of confidence" in the university's president so that the entire university community could democratically vote to share how much confidence they have in the face of the administration. I organized and publicized several rallies, protests, and demonstrations to increase awareness throughout the community and sent many letters to local newspapers. Voter turn-out was at an all-time high for the university's student government elections--for which I ran on a "no-confidence" platform for senator-- and the students and faculty both voted 77-78% no confidence in the president. Although the president brushed this response off and deemed it "inconclusive," the student body was able to unite for this cause and make plans to take further action in defending our right to a fair and democratic education system in the following school year.

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"Expressions: A Therapeutic Medium for Breaking the Silence" is a literary magazine created, organized, designed, and published by Students Against Silence (SAS), a Columbia University organization dedicated to preventing suicide and raising awareness about mental health related issues in the Columbia community. One of our club’s first orders of business for the spring semester was to create this magazine, or what we like to call a "medium for breaking the silence." In an American culture that promotes internal strength, or at least the outward appearance of it, mental illness and particularly suicide are viewed as personal weaknesses, taboo subjects not to be mentioned in polite society. However, suicide is the third leading cause of death for young adults between 15 and 24 years of age, and a staggering 90% of suicide victims have a diagnosable psychiatric disorder at the time of their deaths. Another point of interest is that science has proven that creative individuals, or artists, are disproportionately prone to depression and suicidal tendencies. Everyone in a university setting is brilliant and creative in his or her own way, so it is only natural that the university should be the place where mental health is fostered and issues are dealt with in an open environment. Yet historically, it hasn't been. That's why we channeled all of our resources into creating this first annual literary magazine. It is a way for students and other members of the community to voice their experiences relating to mental health in a medium that is best suited to their individual talents. Poetry, essays, drawings, meaningful quotes, and photographs were all featured in Expressions. We designed and published fliers and posters to promote the magazine, collected submissions, designed the cover and layout of the magazine, and had it published; it was an entire group effort that made our success possible. We began promoting the magazine and asking for submissions in January, and by early May, we distributed 500 copies of our finished product to dorms all across campus, just in time for the most stressful week of the year--finals! We received numerous compliments on our project, but the most gratifying reward was seeing many of the talented individuals who contributed to the magazine actually become members of our club. We plan to publish Expressions each year, and we will continue to work towards our goal of making our university and our community and mentally healthy and happy place to be.