Speaker: Brittny Dawkins
Introduce yourself (name/ PA program) and tell us about your student academy position. Why did you get involved in student leadership?
Brittny Dawkins: Hello, everyone. My name is Brittney Dawkins and I am a second year P A student here at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York. I have the honor of serving as the president elect of the A P A Student Academy. Um So a little bit about my role. Um So my first priority really is to be um of service to all the P A students across the nation, but going into my duties, um my priorities really entail supporting the president um in all of their duties as needed um to preside over the Assembly of Representatives meeting that takes place at the um annual conference. Also to help lead the orientation of for the newly elected members um for the Student Academy Board of Directors and really just filling in where I'm needed attending meetings um being a resource um to everyone in the student academy. Um And so a little bit about why I got involved in leadership. So um since I was a PRE P A, um I have always been so deeply passionate about the uh P A profession, I've always advocated for pas in every space that I've occupied because I know that pas really are the solution to a lot of the gaps that we have in health care, whether that's access equity um or just providing holistic care. So once I began my um my program and really got exposed to all the work that needs to be accomplished for pas to provide the most optimal care. I really just jumped right into becoming a student academy representative. I took it further and then became um a delegate. And then now I'm president elect and my, my goal and my hope is to really help ignite and fuel the fire in other P A students to really become advocates for our profession.
Why should PA students get involved with the PA profession? (e.g. AAPA, Student Academies) Share some easy ways students can get involved.
Brittny Dawkins: I believe that P A students um should get involved with the P A profession because we need advocacy for our profession. Um We need us to advocate for us um on Capitol Hill in the House of Representatives um and in our respective um state capitals, it's imperative that we work towards building and helping to propel the profession. Um because if not us, then there will be nobody um in those respective spaces that are going to advocate for us and to push for those bills to pass the work really and truly starts as a student. Um And there's a plethora of opportunities that are provided to you as a student for ways you can get involved. And it doesn't necessarily have to start with a leadership title. It can be, it can start off as something as small as um organizing a volunteer initiative in your uh local community. You can take it a step further um and lead a project access initiative in your community where you're essentially um helping to spread the word um and increase literacy to your community about what A P A is helping to increase underserve um minorities into uh the P A profession. Um You can take it a step further and become a student representative where you're essentially serving as a liaison between your student society and the A P A helping to really um expose to your, your um your program of ways to be involved in A P A and things that are going on um in the P A world. Um Take it a step further. Becoming a student delegate is a, is an amazing way to really, really get involved in advocacy. Um You directly have a pulse on policy and what policies are in the works, what policies um do we want um getting pushed further, really, really having a vote and a say um in the future and the present of the P A profession, um being a delegate is an amazing way to get involved um truly in advocacy. Um And then of course, there are um a myriad of other positions within the student academy. Um and you can really, really find your place in any position, but I truly believe it is so important to start at the P A school um level of really getting involved um and getting your foot in the door with advocacy.
What advice do you have for aspiring PA students (Pre-PAs)?
Brittny Dawkins: To my advice for aspiring P A students is to keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going. If this is your passion and this is your way of offering service to patients. And this is the specific route that you want to pursue medicine in keep going. It is absolutely attainable and absolutely doable. I find that it's important for me to say that because um groups from minor ized backgrounds and those coming from first generation families or from underrepresented groups. I find that their pre P A journeys oftentimes are more tedious longer, um and just more stressful in general and sometimes it may not seem like you'll ever make it um as a P A student or you'll ever make it to become a PAC, but it is absolutely doable and it is attainable. And I hope that, you know, the student academy um is a reflection of success of those who come from those backgrounds. Um I am a third time re applicant and I mention that in every space I go into. Not because I'm happy that it took that long to get into P A school. But because I hope that um somewhere it offers comfort and reassurance to a pre P A who has also gone through the years and tears and stress and studying that it takes to get to become a P A student and to become a P A. Um you're seeing you're heard and you can absolutely become a P A student. Stay the course, stay connected. Um continue to put your best self forward every single day rejections happen. Um And it's important that, um, you dust yourself off and you keep going. If P A is the goal, it's the goal, it's plan A and you can absolutely do it.
What advice do you have for PA students?
Brittny Dawkins: My advice for P A students is first and foremost that you've made it, you're here, you've earned your position at this P A program. You deserve to be here and really um take some pause and take moments to yourself to really relish in that fact. It is not an easy feat to get into P A school, whether it was your first, your third, your fourth try um really be proud of yourself for being here in this space. Um My next piece of advice would be to put yourself first. I know that mental health is a term that we use very, very loosely at times. Um But um if you're not putting yourself first, everything else doesn't matter. Um It's kind of like that um analogy of putting on the oxygen mask first before you help others, really, truly take time to really check in with yourself. P A school is such a high stressful environment. So it's important that you're in tune with yourself. You're leaning in with your community. I'm leaning in uh with people in your program. And that brings me to my next piece of advice is to really lean on someone in the program and uh make an accountability partner have someone that will um make sure you're on top of your stuff, make sure that you're not falling behind. Uh Making sure that you're good, making sure that all is well with you that you're staying afloat. Um Another piece of advice would be to remember to advocate for our profession in any space that you're in. Um to remember to always be an ambassador for the P A profession um in whatever conversations you're having. Um It is so important that we continue to really um increase visibility um about the P A profession to really help increase um health care access for all patients. Um Another would be to put your best self forward, um Both in didactic and clinical phase show as your best self, put your best self forward. Um You never know who's in the room and you wanna make sure that, you know, you're on your game and you're doing the best you can um to prepare to be of service to patients. Um A big thing would be to remind yourself of your why often I like to put mine on a sticky note um right at my desk and just write out my whys as to why I'm here, why I keep going, who am I doing this for? Um I think that's a really great way to um stay regulated and stay the course. Um and definitely um maintain your relationships with your mentors um and people in your class and your faculty um in your community.
Why should aspiring and current students join AAPA? (e.g. What is your favorite membership benefit?)
Brittny Dawkins: So I think inspiring P A students to join A P A because um there's really a plethora of resources that are offered for pre pas. Um not only does it look higher on your resume and your applications for P A schools. Um But you have access to um a lot of tools that will help with your um application process. So that's like um access to my P A box um P A school prep, the P A platform, like those are just to name a few. Um And so um with the membership, you're offered a discounted rate to utilize those services to really help um augment your P A school applications. And as for P A students, um some really, really great benefits that I love um from being a member of A P A um number one, the job search um as I'm winding down my clinical year and so important that I have um different search engines to look for jobs on. And I love that through my membership. Um I'm able to look for jobs um easily through the A P A website. Another is I love getting these magazines in the mail um to really stay abreast on research. I feel like research is something that I really want to incorporate into my practice and really be able to, um, you know, quote recent research that specifically pas are doing. I am all for the PS and research. Um So I love getting a chance to get those magazines once a month. Um and just really, you know, staying fresh on um the newest research in our profession and in medicine. Um, another part that I love is the salary report that comes out every single year. It helps, um, show you, um, what specialties are competitive right now by region, um, by area by state. And, um, really helps like, you know, when you're going into, um, negotiate, um, with these different jobs that you're applying to. Um, it helps you have a pulse on, you know, what is, um, the median salary that's going on in my state right now. Um, and just ensures that, um, you're being paid fairly. So I love seeing that salary report. Um, and last, but not least the huddle, I love getting, um, my daily dose of tea from the huddle. Um, it really just keeps you abreast on what's going on right now in the profession. What are people talking about? What's so important that we need to be chatting about. And I love seeing all the different minds from all the various pas across the nation students and both practicing pas um, and it's just a really great way to, um, see what's hot and popping.
