(music playing)
CAROLINE PALAVICINO-MAGGIO:
In high school,
my guidance counselor was set
that I would go
to technical school.
They just said, "Look, your
kind, that's what you guys do.
You go to technical school."
SHOWLY NICHOLSON: I remember
I had to use a dictionary
just to understand
the homework assignments.
JIAN W. DONG: I think
first generations come in
feeling more... out of place.
ASHWINI JAMBHEKAR: As people
started talking around me
about applying for fellowships,
I didn't know
what a fellowship was.
DENNIS SPENCER: There is a sense
of everything
being new and scary and unknown
for the first generation.
SHERRI-ANN M. BURNETT-BOWIE:
If you are here,
you are worthy to be here,
that everyone has
some doubt and question.
But, so, that is not unique
to you.
(music playing)
LEE NADLER: I never spoke
to a doctor face to face
until I got
to Harvard Medical School.
At first I thought,
"Gee, I don't belong.
"I actually don't belong.
"I don't know anything about it.
"I've never talked to a doctor.
Maybe I'm a fake."
SPENCER:
These are very qualified people,
there at these institutions.
To get into medical school,
any medical school,
is a non-trivial thing,
but there is a difference
in where you're starting.
There is
an inherent disadvantage
for what are
the kitchen-table conversations
that many other people
take for granted.
JAMBHEKAR:
There was not much awareness
that college is
a social experience,
that it's an opportunity
to sort of discover things
about yourself.
But I wasn't equipped
to take advantage
of those opportunities,
and there was nobody
to coach me in doing so.
JORDAN TODD: I branched out
and I went to groups
like the Minority Biomedical
Scientists at Harvard
and SACNAS,
and I really met people
who were connected
to these types of experiences
here.
For me, first-generation
isn't necessarily an "identity."
It's a huge part
of my experience,
and it has shaped my identity
in a lot of ways,
but it's, it's the aspect
of belonging
that really matters.
FIDENCIO SALDAÑA:
There's always that question
even before you get here,
"Well, did I get in here
because...?
"Did I get in
because I'm a person of color?
"Did I get in
because I'm first-generation--
"not because of my own merit
but because I filled a quota
of some sort?"
PALAVICINO-MAGGIO: I used to
struggle with it more, I think,
in graduate school,
because there was
a really big clear divide.
But here at HMS,
I don't do so as much.
They invite all aspects of life.
And, and just, every journey
they, you know, they admire.
It's just,
I think it's remarkable.
DONG:
One of the biggest barriers
for people from lower
socioeconomic backgrounds
to get into medicine
is this... intimidation factor.
Being resilient
and being able to really
just confront your fears
and just go for things,
for me, that made
a lot of difference.
- This incredible faculty
from our three hospitals and...
BURNETT-BOWIE:
Sometimes you don't realize
that you're even
first-generation.
So I think partly
the conversation
we've been having
as a society,
I had never framed myself
as first-generation.
And so I think understanding
that there is a language
that others may be using
about you
that you don't see yourself.
And that could either be
a positive or a negative.
There is a lot of resilience
that they might not appreciate
that they have,
but they do.
KEVIN M. SIMON:
I think it would be a disservice
not to apply to Harvard Medical,
presuming that they are not
going to look at you
because you're
a first-generation immigrant,
first generation to college.
The reality is
that there are people here
who are keenly aware
of needing
that kind of diversity
and seek it out.
And so, the reality is
that the differences
that we have
can improve patient care,
which is the long-term goal.
MARY JANE GREIN:
I don't think that anybody
should be feeling
one way or the other
just because
of where they came from
or where they didn't come from.
I... was nervous, I didn't know
what the caliber of
the students, body, in my class
would be--
I had a lot of questions.
NICHOLSON: Coming from
a first-generation background
is one of the most phenomenal
parts about you as a person.
At this stage,
at places like HMS,
I felt that it's a merit.
It's something
that those experiences
and that background
really contributes to the class.
- It wasn't
until I started to teach
and have students of my own
that I figured out
what college was for,
and what it was about.
To be in a place
that not only sees the value
of that multiplicity
of experiences,
but does what it can
to encourage it.
To say, "We're open
for business."
To turn on that porch light
and say,
"This is a place for you."
- When I walk in the door
every day to Gordon Hall,
I say, "Is this real?
"Is this,
do I have an office here?
Am I a professor here?"
That's not a joke story--
that's the real story.
(music playing)
