Welcome  to  season  three  of  Beyond  the  Nest. University  of  Minnesota,  Rochester's  Alumni  podcast. I,  Marco  Lands,  Omar, Director  of  Alumni  Development  Relationships. Kicking  off  our  third  season  and  Beyond The  Nest  is  a  heartwarming  conversation between  sisters  Chiyogo  and  Amarachirokwayow. Both  graduates  of  Mario  and Amarachi  reminisce  about  discovering the  campus  in  their  own  backyard, share  advice  and  wisdom for  current  undergraduate  students, and  chat  about  life,  preparing for  and  entering  into  medical  school. Currently,  Amarachi  2020  graduate  of  Yuma  in her  second  year  of  medical  school  at the  University  of  Minnesota Medical  Center  in  the  Twin  Cities. And  Chito,  a  2022  graduate, is  preparing  to  take  the  M  cat  as she  works  toward  medical  school  herself. Now,  I've  known  you  for  a  long  time. I'm  not  going  to  see  my  age  up  here, but  a  long  time. Well,  the  audience  may  not. So  can  you  tell  us  a  little  bit  about  yourself,  Amari? Yeah.  So  I  am  an  alumni  of the  University  of  Minnesota  Rochester  and  I currently  attend  the  University of  Minnesota  Medical  School. All  right.  Amchi,  you  mentioned  that  you  are an  alumni  to  the  University  Minnesota  Rochester. What  brought  you  to  you  in  the  first  place? How  did  you  hear  about  the  school? Right.  So  it's  interesting  because  like, you  know,  mom  was  driving  us.  We're  going  somewhere. And  I  look  over  and  I  see  a  big  of  M  sign, like  the  University  of  Minnesota  sign. It  was  a  building  and  beneath  this  building  was  a  mall. So  I'm  just  asking  myself, why  is  there  an  M  sign  above  a  mall? Is  this  like  a  student  shopping  place  like? And  we're  in  Rochester  because we  live  in  Rochester.  Yeah.  We  live  here. And  we  know  about  the  Twin  Cities  campus. Uh  huh.  Like  a  miles  away  from  Rochester. So  I  will  honestly  so  confused, and  I  went  on  handed  any  gold, I  put  it  in  Minnesota,  Rochester, and  the  University  of  Minnesota Rochester  campus  popped  up. And  that  was  around  the  time  where  I was  applying  for  colleges. And  they  knew  that  if  I  told, you  know,  how  dad  is, if  I  told  him  he's  going  to  be  like, you're  going  there  because,  you  know, it's  close  to  home  and  every  dad wants  to  keep  your  daughter  close  to  home. And  in  my  mind  I'm  like,  wow. Because  I  was  still  looking  forward  to going  out  of  state  and  all  that  stuff, but  once  I  got  to  know  your  for  myself, yeah,  this  is  where  I  want  to  be. Because  then  I  was  pre  pharmacy  and just  attending  the  sessions  to  learn  more  about  it. I  learned  that  the  school  was  geared towards  students  interested  in  health  sciences. They're  smaller  class  sizes  and the  number  one  hospital in  the  world  is  literally  close  to  campus. Like  you  see  the  professionals as  you're  walking  to  campus, Male  clinic  and  I'm  like,  wow, this  is  a  great  place  to  be  at  your  colleagues, you  get  to  be  surrounded  by  students  who are  also  who  also  share  the  same  passion  that  you  do. I  mean,  it's  a  great  environment  to  learn  it. And  I  was  like,  yeah,  sign  me  up there  for  other  pre  medical  students  like  myself. What  is  a  one  advice  or  more  that  you  would  give to  them  that  you  found  out  along  your  journey, in  the  process  of  being  a  student  that  shapes you  to  become  the  wonderful  physician that  you  want  to  be  for  your  patients. Integrating  the  process  in  terms  of  when  you're  learning, try  to  learn  as  much  as  you  can. Then  to  learn  as  much  as  you  can, you  have  to  introduce  study  skills that  you  might  not  be  used  to, which  is  you're  actively  studying. Learn  how  to  do  practice  questions. Learn  how  to  pre  read  the  material  before  class. Girl,  you're  talking  to  me  right  now. Read,  go  to  class, do  class  afterwards,  review  and  do  questions. Those  habits  are  critical  in  studying  for the  M  cat  Is  critical  in  medical  school, critical  in  your  career  because you  need  a  career  of  life  long  learning. When  you're  able  to  be  intentional, you  can  carry  that  into  your  practice before  you  see  your  patient.  You  read. You  want  to  come  in  with  the  knowledge, you  know  your  patients, You  deliver  as  much  as  you  can  after  the  counter. You  also  want  to  follow  up  and  do more  pre  reading.  Do  more  reading  too. You  want  to  make  sure  that  you're very  intentional  and  dedicated to  your  patients  and  help them  all  the  possible  ways  that  you  can. Which  is  why  integrity  is  so good  with  the  M  cat  treated  in  that  way. Like  yeah,  one  day  I'm  going  to  be treating  a  patient  and  I  want  to be  so  intentional  and  thorough. That  will  really  carry.  And  that  requires hard  work,  I  guess  discipline. Everybody  wants  to  spend hours  in  it  because  I  know  the  M  cat  was. It's  definitely  it.  It's  a  big  one. It's  a  big  exam.  It  really  is. It  can  feel  daunting  but  anybody  can't  be  successful  in the  MC  is  just  discipline and  he's  talking  to  the  right  people to  find  those  strategies. And  the  reason  why  you  say  start  now, in  undergrad,  when  you  get  there, you're  not  starting  from  a  lower  level, like  you  already  have  those  skills and  what  you  got  to  do  now  is  execute  them. Does  that  make  sense?  Yes,  it  does,  right? And  in  the  process  of  studying,  exploring  your  passions, volunteer,  because  you're  passionate about  where  you  want  to  volunteer  at. I  tutored  students. I  love  working  with  young  children  and students  and  just  seeing the  joy  of  learning  in  their  faces, like  when  they  get  a  problem,  right? You  know,  I  did hospice  because  I  wanted  to  learn  Mary,  End  of  life  care. How  can  I  be  very  critical  in that  time  because  in  that  need,  in  that  time. Because  at  times,  being  a  physician, you  know  not  only  are  you  doing  life, you  might  come  across  death. How  do  you  handle  it?  And  I  wanted  to  do that,  export  those  passions. Clubs  like  if  you  want  to  start  a  club, start  it  with  your  friends, with  people  you  don't  really  know, we're  going  to  get  to  know  each  other. You  know  if  you  like  poetry. Like  even  through  the  clubs, the  African  Cultural  Club, the  Black  History  Month,  like  hosting  like  we started  a  poetry  slams  that's  never  been  done. Just  pursuing  your  passion. And  it  can  be  so  hard  because  of  work  life  balance, like  how  do  I  balance  all  this  with  school. Here  you're  telling  me,  putting  all  this  work  in  school, putting  all  this  work,  and  I'm going  to  tell  you  it's  not  easy. Like  balance  sometimes  means you're  focusing  on  one  thing  for that  day  and  the  next  day  you  focus  on  the  other  thing. Sometimes  it's  not  easy  to  have  50,  50. And  then  with  time,  you  become  more  efficient. You  become  more  efficient. And  also  include  rest. Give  yourself  grace  because  the  grace  extends  to yourself  is  the  grace  to  extend  to your  patients  has  you're, you're  walking  them  through  like the  treatment  plan  that  they  are  nervous about  or  they  might  not  be  able to  like,  successfully  execute  it. But  because  you've  been  so  gracious  to  yourself, you  can  be  like,  I'm  here  to  walk through  this  with  you,  where's  the  problem? It  lets  you  see  the  problem early  and  help  them  identify  it, and  then  you  guys  can  tweak it  and  move  forward,  you  know? So  that's  why  I  say  just  coming back  to  the  whole  thing  at,  by  integrity, doing  everything  in  the  right  way  and  doing  everything  in the  right  way  because  you want  to  do  right  for  your  patients. That  really  is  what  it's  about. With  the  start  of  a  new  semester, well  underway,  UMR  and  Mayo  Clinic  Speaker  series. Kern  Center  Connect  returns  to campus  on  Tuesday,  September  20. Join  us  in  person  or  virtually  for a  lively  discussion  featuring  Kern  Center  researchers, Dr.  Ronaldo  Blocker  and  AJ. Jayakumar,  as  they  discuss  diversity, science,  exploring  projects,  concepts,  and  structure. The  event  will  be  held  on  the  fourth  floor  of University  Square  in  room  414. Doors  open  at  04:30  with  the  program  beginning promptly  at  05:00  P.M.  To  register, please  visit  Zubak  Center. Wow.  Keeping  the  patients  first.  Mm  hm. Yeah.  And  also  taking  care  of  yourself  too. Yes.  When  you  take  care  of  yourself, able  to  take  care  of  other  people,  it  can  be  a  lot. I  understand  you  being  a  pre  medical  students because  you're  also  worried  about getting  to  medical  school. You're  worried  about  the  M  cat. The  best  thing  that  I  found  with  like  trying  to  target these  areas  of  areas you're  worried  about  is  having  a  plan. I'm  reach  out  to  students, upper  classmen  reach  out  to  medical  students, find  mentors  that  can  help  you  along  the  way. Being  honest  with  yourself, being  realistic  with  your  weak  areas. Like  you  know,  where  am  I  weak  on? How  can  I  improve  it?  Strategies  that  you  can  do. Because  sometimes  you  will  take on  too  much  and  you  cannot  implement  them. But  what  charges  can  you  do? It  show  grace  to yourself  because  at  times  as  you're  moving  forward, you  fall  backwards  so  many  times. That's  why  I  say  be  kind, rise  again,  rise  again  each  time  you  rise  to  get  better. Wow.  What's  being  the  best  part  of  medical  school  so  far? I  know  you're  only  a  freshman, but  if  there's  one  thing that  you  really  enjoy,  what  would  that  be? It's  like  now  what  you're  doing  is  so relevant  to  your  career,  like  the  science. I  know  there  are  some  parts  of  the  science  like,  oh, I  don't  find  this  as  much  interesting, but  then  you'll  see  the  science that  you  really  find  interesting. I  really  love  physiology  and  I  know that  physiology  and  I  were going  through  something  right  now,  we're  figuring  it  out. But  it  doesn't  mean  that  I  enjoy  learning  this. How  does  the  body  work? Ever  since  I  was  a  kid, this  was  one  of  the  questions  that  always  played  my  mind, you  know,  like  was,  well  let's  get  this  fun. Like  what  else?  What  do  you  like  to  do  for  fun? What's  something  that  takes  you  out of  that  same  monotony  school? Science  and  academics  for  fun, it's  really  hard  right  now. But  I'm  finding  ways  to  do  so  because when  people  say  in  medical  school is  like  drinking  out  of  a  fire  hose, they  were  not  playing,  It  really is  the  information  really  comes  at  you. And  like  you  really  want  to  be dedicated  and  also  having  integrity  in  the  process, making  sure  I  able  to  digest  this  information. But  it's  important  to  take  care  of  yourself. What  I  do,  like  when  I  can, even  during  the  day  after  classes, I  can  just  take  an  hour,  2  H.  Just  relax,  watch  a  show. I  really  love  watching  a  show. Even  just  to  cook  and  be  call  my  friends. Honestly  call  my  friends  Laugh  about something,  hype  each  other  up. Lay  down  can  even  be  as  simple  as  laying  down  and close  your  eyes,  seriously. And  I  really  like  like  sent. So  I  have  like  scented  candles.  Oh  no. Yeah,  So  like  sometimes  just  like  turn  off the  lights  and  just  like  light  my  candles and  then  like  watch  a  movie  with  like  my  candles  and it's  such  a  nice  Bie  or  just  play  nice  music. I  like  to  jam  music  like  time  to  time. Going  out  with  friends  to  day  was  really nice  because  I  went  out  for  brunch with  like  a  couple  of  friends. Find  little  moments  in  your  days  every  single  day. It's  a  daily  thing  to  take  care  of  yourself,  please. Even  in  the  morning,  do  something  in  the  morning.  I  pray. That  really  helps  me  start  my  day  making  sure, because  we're  women  of  faith, making  sure  that,  you  know, God  is  with  us  during  that  day. Having  that  time  in  the  afternoon, watching  movie  in  the  nighttime,  take  time  off. Some  people  like  to  go  to  the  gym. That's  something  that  I  really  want  to  start  doing,  so, But  just  to  g  time  off  to just  do  nothing,  cook  something.  Yeah. Do  you  have  anything  in  mind  that  keeps  you  going? I  guess  my  biggest  question  is,  what's  your  motivation? What  is  my  motivation? There's  a  model  that's always  like  being  my  guiding  principle. So  who  much  is  given? Much  is  expected,  I  know  that. Who  ties  on  it  to  integrity  again. But  my  motivation  is  that  when  I  see  a  patient, I  really  want  to  be  able  to  deliver  that  care. Being  around  male  clinic, we  always  hear  the  needs  of  the  patient.  Comes  first. I  have  that  picture  of  my  minded  provider  I  want  to  be, which  is  an  empathetic  provider, a  knowledgeable  provider,  One that  brings  joy  to  the  workplace  too. Because  it  really  can  be  stressful, like  looking  at  this  in  a  pandemic, the  consequences  of  it, it  can  take  a  toll  on  the  medical  workforce  as  well. What  can  I  also  do  for  my  colleagues  that  shapes  me, that  really  does  that motivates  me  just  look  at  the  end  goal. Because  at  times  like  now, especially  in  the  first  two  years  when  you're just  doing  the  basic  sciences, you  haven't  yet  gone  into  the  hospitals  that  much. It  can  feel  like  all  I  do  is  study  2047. But  just  taking  a  breather  to think  that  there's  a  reason  for  this. I'm  going  to  treat  people  and I  really  want  to  deliver  the  best  care  that  I  can. I  want  people  to  leave  with  smiles, even  if  it's  possibly  not, you  know,  all  the  time.  That  might  happen. Because  you  also  have  to  learn  how  to deliver  bad  news  to  patients,  you  know. So  we're  doing  a  real  thing. It's  like  real  things  that  really  plaque  people's  lives. And  I  don't  want  to  joke  with  nobody's  life. Everybody's  life  is  precious,  very  valuable. And  I'm  there  to  do  as  much  as  I  can  to  support  that. That's  what  motivates  me with  the  return  of  Beyond  the  Nest. Umr  would  like  to  hear  from  you. Please  visit  this  episode's  show  notes  for  how to  connect  and  share  your  UMR  journey. Now  back  to  Chiyogo  and  Amara, as  they  talk  about  the  influence  each  has had  on  the  others  path  through  college  and towards  medical  school  girl, how  do  you  even  follow  that  up? That  is  so  inspiring. Honestly.  That  is  so  inspiring. I  don't  know,  I've  always  looked  up  to  you. I  mean,  we  both,  you  know  how  mom  is,  our  parents. They  are  so  hard  working just  to  share  a  little  bit  of  our  background. Our  family  immigrated  here  to the  states  like  a  decade,  ten  years  ago. And  we've  seen  our  parents work  so  hard  to  come  to  a  point where  they  are  able  to  pass  on  to  your  kids, something  that  they  didn't  have  growing  up, but  they've  worked  so  hard to  have  the  ability  to  do  that. I  can  see  that  thread  in  your  life. I  can  see  that  in  my  life and  in  our  other  siblings  life  as  well. What  is  one  thing  that you  want  to  pass  on  to  the  next  generation? It's  as  simple  as  love. It's  as  simple  as  love. Love  conquers  all. It  sounds  cheesy,  but  love  does, even  if  that's  why  it's  so  important  to  love  ourselves. Because  how  can  you  love  others  when  you  don't  love yourself  in  the  healthy  way?  In  a  healthy  way. Passing  this  on,  how  does  love  look  like  if  friend comes  up  to  you  or  you  see someone  struggling  with  a  concept  in  class? To  do  your  best  to  explain  it to  them  because  you  love  them. You  don't  want  to  see  them  struggle. You  know,  you  hear  about  like an  opportunity  like  wait  a  minute, this  girl  told  me  she's  interested  in  obie  guy. You  know,  like  she's  interested. You  send  that  off  to  that  friend or  a  non  friend  or  stranger. And  when  the  mentor  has  helped  you, you  think  that  mentor, you  appreciate  that  mentor, you  appreciate  your  professor. You  appreciate  people.  You  just  love  them. And  that  will  ooze  out, people  will  feel  it  smiling. You  don't  have  to  smile  because every  time  you  want  to  smile, but  like  when  you  can  and  it's so  I  understand  how this  message  can  be  really  difficult  too. Because  we're  also  in  a  time  with mental  health  awareness  and people  are  coming  to  terms  with whatever  they've  gone  through  in  their  lives. Be  trauma,  be  anything that  can  affect  people's  ability  to  love. Even  loving  themselves,  even  when  they're  loving. Like  it's  coming  from  a  place  of  like  lack  something. Taking  that  time  to  heal from  whatever  you're  going  through. That's  why  I  say  loving  yourself. You  can  loving  others  too. And  that  would  effectively  make  the  world  go  around. Sound.  But  it  is  the  truth. Yeah.  No,  I  definitely  agree. I,  I  keep  coming  back  to  family, but  family  means  a  lot  to  me. That's  how  I  learned  a  lot  about  who  I  am and  why  I'm  here  and  what  I  can  do  for  other  people. Watching  our  family,  our  parents  love  each  other, love  us  and  love  the  people  around them  has  really  shaped  me, has  shaped  why  I even  wanted  to  be  a  physician  in  the  first  place. It  was  born  out  of  wanting  to  love  people, Realizing  what  my  skills  are  and  how  I can  apply  my  skills  to  loving  people. It  came  out  to  be  medicine. I'm  good  at  sciences.  I  can  sit down  for  hours  and  study  and  be  okay. And  I  was  like,  okay,  if  this  is  what I'm  good  at  and  I  want  to  love  people, I'll  go  through,  I'll  do the  medical  route  and  I'll  see  what  happens  with  that. Along  the  way  too,  I learned  about  the  power  of  self  care, which  everyone's  like,  okay,  yada,  yada,  yada. We've  heard  about  self  care,  but it  really  is  very  important, especially  in  this  fast  paced  world. It's  good  to  just  relax  and  say,  okay, I  need  to  pour  into  my  cup  so  that  I  can pour  into  other  people  wouldn't  have  said  any  better. Exactly.  Exactly.  Man,  this is  some  gems  out  here  with  the  pain. Honestly,  I  feel  very  content. I  feel  very  happy that  first  of  all,  that  you're  my  sister. I  keep,  if  you  ask  all  my  friends, I  talk  about  you  all  the  time because  I  just  have  so  much  respect  for  you and  I  am  really  looking forward  to  seeing  what  you  accomplish  in  the  future. I'm  just  glad  that  the  audience, you  got  to  know  you  in  a  way  that I  have  for  the  past.  How  many  minutes? Thank  you  so  much  for  being  here. Thank  you  to  our  audience  for  listening. Do  you  have  any  last  words? I'm  just  out  here  smiling.  I'm  choosing. But  I  like  thank  you  for  this  interview. Like  this  was  really  beautiful. You're  an  awesome  host. And  thank  you  for  being  my  sister. We're  doing  this  together, you  know,  God  is  with  us. And  I'm  thankful  here, I'm  content  too,  like  you  said. And  so  our  audience, whatever  you're  going  through, always  bear  in  mind  that  you're going  to  succeed  and  you're  going  to  excel. Even  if  it  does  not  look  like  it  does  not  feel  that  way. Just  tap  into  that  troops  and  wear  like  an  armor. You  are  powerful.  You  are  very,  very  powerful. I  want  everybody  to  know  that.  I  know  it. You  are  powerful.  And  that's  it. And  that's  it.  Thank  you,  Rob. Thank  you  to  Chitiogo  and Amarte  for  their  lovely  conversation. And  thank  you  for  listening  to  Beyond  the  Nest. Umar's  alumni  podcast. Beyond  the  Nest  is  produced  by  Umar  Alumni  Relations and  edited  by  Marshall  Saunders with  Minnesota  Podcasting. We'll  be  back  next  month  for another  insightful  conversation  with  2016 raptor  graduate  Dr.  Hali and  her  student  success  coach,  Jen  Hook. Until  then, Toto 0 0 0 E.