White Coat Ceremony

“All around the world, no matter where you go, people of all nations recognize the white coat as a universal symbol of healing and help for the ill or the injured. So the white coat is a badge you should wear with pride."
~Gerald J. Pepe, PhD, Dean and Provost

Friday was a special day for our family, even more special for me than graduation was. The White Coat Ceremony was held at EVMS, a tradition for the new class of students coming in where there's a speaker, the students are called up to have their white coat put on them by one of the department chairmen, and they then recite the Oath of Hippocrates. Very cool and very exciting for us. My eyes were often watery as I listened to the speaker, Dr. Mohrmann who was phenomenal, and as I looked at Ryan and all the 118 students. It took a lot for them all to get to this point. It wasn't an easy road, and still isn't an easy road, but it was neat to see them all together and to imagine the crazy times that are ahead of them.

The white coat symbolizes the student’s entry into the field of medicine. Medical students retain these short coats until they graduate and earn the right to wear the full-length physician coat. Dr. Mohrmann urged the students to leave their new white coats unbuttoned as a reminder to open their hearts and let the patients in. She spoke beautifully of the compassion necessary in becoming a good and happy physician, how you must allow your heart to be broken when hearing of patient's different situations of abuse, etc. Don't shut yourself off from it but open yourself up to them and listen closely. She opened my eyes to things I haven't thought of and she did an excellent job, even mentioning the Good Samaritan in there and how he was moved to help the injured man. The speech touched everyone in the room for sure.

We had a delicious catered lunch afterwards, piano player and all, which was very enjoyable. Ryan was beaming and I was so happy for him. He enjoyed his first week of school last week and is so anxious to get going and learn more. It's great to see him so passionate about something and even if we don't see him very much in the several years ahead, it's just so good to see him engaged in something that he loves and has a passion for. I'm so excited to hear about his adventures each day. Isn't medicine just so fascinating?

So it was another beautiful day in the book of the Adams Family. Diane and Terry flew out for the occasion and it was nice to have them here and show them around a little bit. And to make the day even more special it was our Gwennie girl's 13th birthday! We are officially the parents of a teenager, and she's a cute one at that and so much fun!

(You can look here to see us talking to Dr. Solhaug, the Dean of Admissions who was the one to tell Ryan personally that he was "in".)
(You can also look here to see Ryan on the home page of EVMS!)

Ry is the second guy in line


Ry waiting for us after the ceremony

Dr. Adams here we come!



Birthday girl