The College of Medicine and Health Sciences

I am currently a student at The College of Medicine and Health Sciences (COMHS), which is on the lovely island of St. Lucia, West Indies. St. Lucia used to be a British colony, but it has been an independent nation since 1979. St. Lucia, in fact, had been alternately a British or a French possession a dozen or more times in the early years of European exploration, exploitation, and domination of the New World, but it finally became a British possession in 1814 during the Napoleonic Wars when the French ultimately ceced possession to the British.

Although the term West Indies is most accurate, it is still acceptable to refer to it as St. Lucia, British West Indies. This has a practical application. If you address something to St. Lucia, WI, it is possible that it might wind up in some dead letter bin in some Post Office in Wisconsin. So addressing something to St. Lucia, British West Indies, helps ensure that it will likely get here.

COMHS (pronounced CO-mus) is a relatively new and relatively small school, but I like that. I can talk to a professor about what I am studying and ask any questions I like just about any time. The lectures are all recorded and available on-line. That's a big win, because students can access them anytime they want and anywhere they want (as long as they have Internet access). This approach to teaching also means that the professors can devote themselves more to answering questions and one-to-one teaching because they don't have to spend any time preparing or delivering lectures. The lectures are done!

Moreover, if we want to listen to the lectures again, we can. On the other hand, if we would rather read the associated text than go sit in a lecture that may or may not do us much good, and that's our decision, after all, we can do that, too. That is, we get to choose how best to use our time, and that's a big win, too.

And the courses are largely self-directed. We spend as much time as we want, within reason, on any one unit, studying until we are comfortable, and then we choose when to take the exam. That's a very big win.

To be sure, the courses are not entirely self-directed. In addition to meeting informally with faculty whenever we like to ask questions and discuss concepts, we have group review sessions that last as long as we need them to last wherein we formally ask questions and discuss concepts as a group rather than as individuals. But we don't waste our time and the professors' time on lectures. Another very big win.

As I mentioned elsewhere, the educational philosophy at COMHS is to teach. What a great idea! The professors here do not bully students or try to confuse them on exams. They do not try to make students feel inferior or awkward. The professors here are not hung up on trying to show how smart or clever they are. They don't need to. They are smart and clever. They know it, we know it, they are comfortable with it, we are comfortable with it, they don't need to prove it, and we don't need them to prove it. In general, it has been my experience in life and in academe that people who have to try to prove how smart they are, aren't. (A list of names is available upon request.) But the professors here are nothing like that. They want to teach, they want to help, they want us to succeed.

As I mentioned, COMHS is small and new, but the potential for growth is great. I am very privileged to be here for the beginning. There is so much potential for the school, for the faculty, for the staff, for the students, for me, and we're growing with the challenge, I'm growing with the challenge. There is also a lot of work to do by the school, by the faculty, by the staff, by the students, and by me, but we're doing it, I'm doing it. There's no looking back because I don't want to look back. I've made my decision. Carpe diem! Carpe viam!

There's only us!
There's only this!
Forget regret,
Or life is yours to miss!
No other road!
No other way!
No day but today!

This is from Rent, a great musical, a great film. Did you know that Jonathan Larson wrote all of Rent himself? He wrote the music, the lyrics, and the book, and it's all darned good. He moved the rubber tree plant, even when people told him he couldn't. But he didn't listen to them. He listened to the music in his soul, the story in his heart. Me, too. I'm moving the darned rubber tree plant, and ain't nuthin' and ain't nobody gonna stop me. And maybe, just maybe, there is at least one good musical—music, lyrics, and book—in me, too. Maybe, just maybe, I can move more than one darned rubber tree plant.