My program, National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine took place at Hofstra University. At my program we went to different medical schools, but the one school that stood out to me the most was New York Medical School. That school stood out to me the most because at that school we were able to do different hands on activities, such as learning how to do sutures, and being able to check the vital signs for a patient. We were able to hear what normal bowel sounds and abnormal bowel sounds sound like. We were also taught how to do CPR. I learned that everyone may not want to do the exact same thing as the next, for example I want to be a nurse and at my program there were a lot of people who wanted to be doctors. Regardless, as long as we have something in common we'll be able to see things from each other's point of view. At National Youth Leadership a Forum on Medicine, I was able to meet a lot of nice people from all over the country, who I still keep in contact with up until today.

National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine will allow a lot of young adults with a passion for science to explore the field of medicine and get hands-on experience. An example of the hands-on experience is checking vital signs and learning how to suture! Having the hands-on experience and being able to shadow on-duty physicians and visit clinics are the reasons why I’m looking forward to this program. I chose this program because ever since I was younger I always knew that I wanted to have a career that would help me to give back to my community, whether that meant being a teacher, a lawyer, or a pediatrician. I chose the medical field when I had a talk with my mother about her job and what she does. It was so interesting to me when she told me about her job, which made me want to do more research about becoming a nurse or working in the medical field in general. Being in this program will give me so much insight on medicine to help me in the future and in my career.