Speaker: Jhocelyn Mesias
Introduce yourself (name/ PA program) and tell us about your student academy position. Why did you get involved in student leadership?
Jhocelyn Mesias: Hi, my name is Joy and I'm a second year P A student at King University in New Jersey. I am currently the Northeast regional Director in the A AP A Student Academy uh which basically means that I'm the student liaison and the student voice of the Northeast region. Um So I'm able to communicate any A AP A happenings with P A students in my region. Um I was inspired to get involved when I met P A students just like me at LAS in DC last year, which is an event also sponsored by the A AP A and I loved that um the Northeast regional director or the regional director, physician in general um offered the opportunity to communicate with so many students. Um not only in, in your region but those across the country through the board and the other regional directors. Um I love meeting and chatting with new people.
Why should PA students get involved with the PA profession? (e.g. AAPA, Student Academies) Share some easy ways students can get involved.
Jhocelyn Mesias: Uh coming from someone who was not very involved growing up and being that very shy person. Um I've learned the value of becoming involved as a student, not only to create new connections and share ideas with classmates and your colleagues, but you know, to learn from them and to connect with and speak to current practicing pas because they were once in our shoes and from my experience, they have pretty uh are valuable advice. Um I also believe that there are strength in numbers and I feel that ideas flourish if you share them with others and you're able to work together towards common goals, whether this be collaborating uh when taking care of patients together, trying to implement a new law that may affect pas or our patients or you know, even spreading the word about the pay profession and what we can do. Um in my region. Some ways students have gotten involved include running a school supply drive, donating books to reach out and read toys for talks, or even volunteering at health fairs.
What advice do you have for aspiring PA students (Pre-PAs)?
Jhocelyn Mesias: As a third time re applicant, I can truly say where there's will. There's a way I know that the statistics can be very daunting sometimes when you hear that only 20% of pe students get accepted into a P A program. Um However, I just want to say, keep pushing through if you feel that this field is for you, um keep shadowing, keep building up that resume the application, the shadowing hours volunteer, you know, whether you're a patient care tech A scribe an M A&E MT. All those experiences are be truly valuable for you, not only as a builder for your application and to make you stand out, but there will be experiences where you can draw from to speak about in your interview and those experiences will also help you as a future P A with your patients. Um And you know, they're very invaluable experiences. So I think just keep pushing through, ignore the 20% that you hear of acceptances and just, just keep going. You got this
What advice do you have for PA students?
Jhocelyn Mesias: As a current P A student who is in clinical year. Um I would just like to tell other P A students like me. Um So, you know, just take a day, one day at a time there from my experience, there's gonna be days where you really don't want to get up. You don't wanna go in the rotation you're on is just not for you. But the beauty of it is that we're only there for 468 weeks however long our program decides per rotation. Um And, you know, even if we don't like it, it's an opportunity to learn something new. Yes, maybe we won't go, you know, be a P A in that field when we graduate. Um But then we might also surprise ourselves. I was someone who said I would hate surgery and I didn't want to go to my surgery rotation. And after that first surgery that I observed and then later got to scrub in, I was captivated and I now can't imagine, um, not ever stepping foot into an or so, hopefully, fingers crossed. I can land a job as a surgical P A. Um But yes, so just take it one day at a time, take every experience and every day. Um, as a chance to learn.
Why should aspiring and current students join AAPA? (e.g. What is your favorite membership benefit?)
Jhocelyn Mesias: So why should you join the A AP A? Um since I'm a clinical year student, I would say, um you get um if you've ever heard of Hippo Education A AP A provides us for free. So for all the eors, you get a bunch of a whole question bank for her EOR which I think is very invaluable. Um Aside from this as a clinical year student, you also get free um malpractice insurance, um which I just found out about halfway through my clinical year. Um I also just recently went to um the A AP A national conference and before that I was able to attend the Leadership and Advocacy Summit in DC. And I will say that these two events, I not only got to meet students just like me, um who had the same struggles, um who are, you know, struggling through didactic year and needed some advice or students who are also, you know, taking their eors and we're just all terrified to graduate and what comes next. Um But, you know, you also get to meet pas who were in your shoes and I think the advice that they can provide you is truly invaluable and these events would not be possible without the A ap A. So I truly, um you know, I'm truly grateful. Um and being on the student academy, I think it's another perk um because you get to meet other students like you, depending on the position that you are interested in running in. Um You can truly make a change and be involved and be active as a student. You don't have to wait until you're a full blown practicing P A to, you know, to feel like you can make a change. You can, you know, you can do so many things even just by joining the student board, meeting new people and trying to implement change because that's what we're about. We want to just talk, we want to get ideas on the table and, you know, see what we can get done.
