Graduation season

The month of June on a university campus always turns our minds and hopes to students, especially those who are graduating. Loma Linda University is no exception, as many events, even before commencement weekends, focus on our students. Some receive awards for their academic accomplishments, while others are recognized for their service activities in the local community or literally around the world.

I have the privilege of participating in many of these events. Our Oak Glen Fellowship several Saturdays ago featured eight senior medical students who had spent time in the nations of Malawi, Japan, Guam, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Tchad. These students are all “Deferred Mission Appointees,” with plans to serve abroad after their specialty training. 

A week later we had the Minority Consecration Service, recognizing the diversity on our campus. Many of these students are the first in their families to graduate from college. Dilys Brooks, one of our campus chaplains, emphasized The Minority Advantage, inviting our graduates to reframe their positions in marginalized groups as constructive and beneficial. This service recognized the unique role and responsibility each of these students has in serving her or his community.

Loma Linda University has always excelled in giving our students practical training and real-life patients and projects to connect with. A group of public health students has been working on plans to open the Chasefu clinic in Mzuzu, Malawi. They recently presented to our Adventist Health International Administration Committee meeting their detailed report on building design, services to be provided with estimated budgets, competition in the area, staff needed, and the potential return on investment. Most of them had actually been to Malawi, and by working together on a real project, they learned many valuable concepts. 

That same afternoon I saw one of those public health students again. Rosalina Ramirez was with another group of students she was coordinating at our Jardin de Salud. This community garden in San Bernardino gives students a chance to connect with community members around gardening as they grow fruits and vegetables. It’s impressive to see our students in the dirt, preparing a “lasagna” compost pile. I sampled the last snap peas and the first strawberries, blueberries and mulberries of the season!

On my hike up Pisgah Peak near our house early each Saturday morning, the ecosystem changes enough that the California Quail disappear and I enter the habitat of the Mountain Quail. An equally beautiful bird, instead of having its topnotch bent forward like its California cousin, the Mountain Quail has two feathers sticking straight up for 3-4 inches. These feathers are usually stuck close together, looking like one. But on occasion they separate, giving a perfect V sign from the top of their heads. I like to think our graduates will now go out into the world with that V sign for victory, not only of their course of study, but their readiness for life. 

So many challenges await our students in the world they now enter — social, cultural, political, financial, and more. My prayers will go with them as they engage with the real-world issues they have been prepared to confront.

Sincerely,

Richard H. Hart, MD, DrPH
President
Loma Linda University Health