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The most rewarding thing about teaching, for me, is helping students realize their potential.
I see a lot of students come into professional school, medical school or dental school, with
a very well developed sense of their own abilities and their own talents. But there are some
students who have a lot of challenges that they need to face, particularly during the
first semester of medical school and dental school. And I really enjoy helping those students
further develop their talents, face areas that they need to address, and watch their
confidence grow as their skills and their knowledge base grows along with it. She presents
herself that she truly cares that the student understands what she's teaching. It always
feels like she's going the extra mile to ensure that no matter how complex the information,
that we understand it. It's important to connect with each student and currently in the medical
gross anatomy course, I have 166 students. I know all of their names and I think that's
very important, number one, to make them feel accountable. They know who I am, I know how
they're doing. They're not some anonymous person in the classroom. But they also know
that I care about them as individuals enough to put the time in to learn who they are,
not only their names, but also who they are as people, where they come from, what strengths
they bring to the medical school, and what their interests are. She sees this stuff day
in and day out, but she was always so excited when we would see something that I know she's
seen a thousand times before and it just, it just made me feel like that she genuinely
cared that I saw and she knew it was my first time seeing it. So, as she presented it in
that form, I would take it home like this is a big deal, that I'm seeing what I'm learning.
People always ask me "How do you teach anatomy?" because I've taught anatomy for over 15 years.
They always say, "Why don't you get bored?" And I say "Because I see it fresh through
the students' eyes every semester." Every year I learn something new from the students
and a new way to teach things, a new way to approach a particular topic area. It's a very
humbling experience to receive this award and really what touched me most about it was
who it comes from. For me, it's the ultimate recognition from the people who count the
most and that's my students.