SWAG��Ƶ

Why SWAG��Ƶ

I went to SWAG��Ƶ for undergrad, so I was familiar with the school. I was interested in the PA program because of the opportunity for interprofessional work with the other health professions students. I am in a program where we get to interact with geriatric patients. We refer to them as “elder teachers,” which I like. In the program, a pharmacy student, a dental student, and a PA student all work together. We meet with our elder teacher and talk to them, pretending that we are their health care team. I thought that was a neat part of SWAG��Ƶ’s program that I wanted to be involved in.

The professors are really cool. A lot of them are still practicing, so they have clinical days in their office and then they have days that they are here at SWAG��Ƶ teaching. It’s awesome because they are up-to-date since they work in the field. They are doing what they love and what we want to do someday. Our professors literally are PAs, so it gives us something to look up to.

Learning Everywhere

We do a lot of hands-on activities and labs. We learned how to do a full physical exam within the first two semesters of the program. It’s cool to get those skills. The program also brings in a lot of alumni, which is awesome. I like that a lot because we get to hear about their experiences. We recently had two alumni come in who work in the ER at Maine Med, and they shared what they are going through at work that connects to what we are learning. It’s always so easy to connect with alumni through those interactions and gain new insights.