GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – The Medical College of Wisconsin’s Green Bay campus held a virtual commencement ceremony on Thursday to honor the newest doctors entering the field.
“We thank all of you for joining us in this – perhaps – very different graduation ceremony,” Green Bay Campus Founding Dean Dr. Matthew Hunsaker said while opening the commencement Thursday morning, “It’s not what we would’ve chosen for the graduates or what they would’ve chosen, but it’s the best we could do for a compromise right now under the circumstances.”
There was no pomp and circumstance as medical students became graduates this week. New Dr. Collin Hess says it was nice to have closure, but it was very different from what the graduates had hoped for. Hess says everything still feels strange – especially in their field.
“It’s all just really weird trying to go into this now. Everything that you knew before is just a little bit different, so we’re trying to cope with all that,” Hess tells WTAQ News, “We’re really excited to get out there and be able to work with patients and to do our part helping treat people during this whole pandemic but at the same time there’s fear and stuff as well.”
The ceremony wasn’t a traditional in-person commencement, and the end of the semester was anything but normal as well.
“Myself and my classmates were slowly taken off rotations until the school was like ‘You know what? We’re just going to transition everything to online now’,” Hess says, “There’s definitely a lot of confusion with how it’s supposed to play out and kind of what my role is within all of this.”
But the presence of a pandemic also allowed the future doctors a number of unique experiences – like working with the Health Department to track COVID-19 – and other aspects of addressing a worldwide issue.
“Each generation has had some challenge to adapt to, this one being worldwide and having a dramatic impact on medical education,” Hunsaker says, “In the 1980’s, it was HIV. In the 90’s, a lot of concern over emerging diseases out of Africa. Certainly 9/11 and the events surrounding domestic terrorism had a dramatic effect on medicine in terms of preparedness.”
Despite a weird graduation – and past several months – Hess says he and the other 26 Doctor of Medicine graduates received an outpouring of support from the community and school as they prepare to hit the front lines and begin their medical careers.
