Shayla Duley is a second year VFMP student. In this short piece, she reflects on this year’s annual Buddy Lunch – where first and second year students get together to talk all about life as a medical student…and, of course, eat!
I remember really enjoying my experience as a first year in my inaugural Buddy Lunch last fall and was truly looking forward to passing the torch to first year students in the role of a second year this time around.
Second year VFMP student, Shayla Duley.
The Buddy Lunch took place on the second day of school, Tuesday, August 25, 2015 in the Life Sciences Centre atriums. Holly Sherman and myself, in our roles as the Orientation Week student team, helped Katya Leonardia of Student Affairs organize the event by ordering and setting up the food and rallying our class to encourage participation.
Carved out in both classes schedules was an hour where we met up with our buddies, grabbed some food and sat down to chat about our experiences in first year and pass on any pearls of wisdom we may have. Both inside and outside the LSC, the groups were buzzing and everyone seemed to be laid back and enjoying themselves. The Buddy Lunch is meant to build an early connection between the cohorts, so we can recognize familiar faces through the years and have someone to reach out to with any burning questions about the program as we move forward.
I remember last year feeling calmed by my second year buddy’s stories. In the first few days of med school it is easy to feel overwhelmed with information. The Buddy Lunch is a great opportunity for the “veteran” second years to assure the incoming class that they’ll get the hang of it and for the fresh first years to have all of their burning questions answered by someone who has just been through what they’re beginning.
My buddies and I exchanged contact information and I hope we’ll bump into each other every now and then to catch up and see how things are going. What I love most about my med school cohort is how diverse the student population is and I always enjoy hearing people’s personal stories about the journeys that brought them to UBC Medicine. For me it’s all about the people and it was really neat to see the connections forming between the buddies as we sat on the grass and ate our lunches.