How a local program is showing kids they can grow up to be doctors

Wearing a white lab coat, Angela Jolivette stepped to the front of the classroom at George Gervin Academy and stood next to a table stacked with white coats that looked just like hers - except in kids' sizes.

Jolivette and other members of the local chapter of the Links Incorporated nonprofit were about to use those garments for a white coat ceremony to open the door to a potential career in medicine or science for 39 of the academy's students.

White coat ceremonies are a rite of passage for college students entering medical and health-care fields, and Links Incorporated has adopted it as part of its Dr. Me program, which aims to expose children to careers in STEM and medical related fields. This week, local doctors and volunteers from the San Antonio chapter of the Links Incorporated are teaming up to present the program at George Gervin Academy. The Links Incorporated is a nonprofit service organization for professional women of color. It was founded in 1946.

After Jolivette got the students' attention, fellow volunteers Mary Davis, Rosaland Anderson and Sharon Swisher welcomed them one by one to the front of the room. After finding the right-sized coat for each child, they helped them slip arms through sleeves, smooth out collars and button the garments.

"This is an honorable thing for you," Jolivette said.

She asked the students to repeat the Dr. Me oath after her. The kids recited the oath in English; dual language students repeated the words spoken by a Spanish language teacher.

"I take this white coat as a symbol of my active participation in learning about STEM, doctors, and the human body," the kids repeated after Jolivette. "I promise to use this as a learning opportunity to be exposed to the fun and excitement of being Dr. Me."

'Makes them feel accomplished'

Monday's white-coat ceremony came on the first day of a five-day workshop Dr. Me workshop at George Gervin Academy.

The week's events include Dr. Joycelyn Theard and Dr. Tricia Hilliard sharing their career experiences with the youngsters. Activities will include building models of a digestive system, a lung "accordion" to learn about the respiratory system and a brain to learn about the central nervous system.

Devethia Thompson is coordinator of the program, which will conclude with students receiving a certificate and a doctor's black bag.

It was the second year for the program that was launched by Jolivette, immediate past president of the San Antonio chapter of the Links Incorporated. Michelle Hayes, current president of the chapter, is continuing the Dr. Me program, which is an international initiative being undertaken in multiple countries.

Hayes said the program gets the students excited about the possibility of a career in science and technology. Maybe 20 years from now, one of the kids will say they're a doctor because of the workshop, she said.

"It makes them feel accomplished about the possibility of being a doctor" Hayes said. "That's important and I think that will stay with them for a long time."

Velma Kemp, vice president of the chapter, said the lessons struck a chord for the children.

"The kids were very involved and helpful," Kemp said. "Part of learning is to be engaged and we accomplished that today."

She said their chapter also features the program at the Black Family Wellness Expo each March at the Antioch Missionary Baptist Church Sports Complex on Walters Street.

'We have some future doctors'

After the ceremony, the students watched a video of how the human heart works. Tracy Blakes explained how the heart was as big as a fist.

Then Links members handed out groups of three plastic water bottles. Two of the bottles were filled with red food coloring and had a straw protruding from the cap tops. The third was empty. They also gave them yellow modeling compound to make a seal around the straws. Blakes enlisted fifth-grader Adalys Brito to explain the experiment in Spanish to dual-language students.

They instructed the kids to bend a straw from one of the filled bottles to the other, representing the valves between the ventricles and atriums. They had them bend the other straw into the hole of the empty bottle, representing valves from the ventricle to the body. The students squeezed the middle bottle and grinned when red liquid flowed into the empty bottle.

"We are sending blood from your heart to your body," Blakes said.

Fifth-grader Danyell Jones said she learned how blood gets transferred to the heart. Though she enjoyed the class, she plans to go into cosmetology as a career. Classmate Vivian Caban said she remembered a lot of the lesson from attending last year's presentation.

Mustafa Boto said the highlight of the workshop was when he received his white coat.

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"It was inspiring," he said. "It felt really good to get my first coat in the third grade. It really is nice."

At the end of the session, the members said goodbye as the kids lined up to leave for the day.

"Look at you, you did well," Blakes told them. "We have some future doctors."

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