CAMPing, Haikus, and Lakes-- Oh My!

1:05 PM

Author | Jackie Kercheval

With haikus by fellow M1 Alec Bernard.

As I sit here happily flexing my creative writing muscles after our very first medical school exam, it's hard not to be incredibly grateful for the new friends who made the transition to medical school so easy—because, frankly, trying to interpret which pink blobs on a histology slide are lung tissue would've been much harder without them.

Tight junctions in cells

Are nothing compared to the

Bonds that bind campers

One day back in June while flipping through Facebook, I discovered that a fellow incoming M1 Alec (the author of these haikus!) was planning a camping trip for a group of people before classes began. I immediately signed up, and a month later I found myself packing baggies of gorp and reviewing trail maps with 12 of my newest best (only?) Michigan Med friends.

Name games and packing

What's your spirit animal?

We have too much cheese

Our first day took us on a seven-mile hike to a pristine lake-side campsite in Pinckney State Park. I'm always amazed by how easy it is to bond with people on a trail; something about wearing down the same dirt en route to a shared destination makes forming non-superficial connections remarkably easy. Or, maybe it was the single "bathroom" that we all had to share. Either way, as we played Euchre by headlamp that night, I was completely shocked by how close I already felt to my fellow campers. (Euchre, by the way, is a card game that I'm convinced all Michiganders are born knowing how to play. As a Jersey girl, I was not a Euchre-natural.)

© Copyright 1995-2024 Regents of the University of Michigan

You are never lost

As long as you are with friends

The trail calls to us

 

By day two, we had a group name: "CAMP," or "Creating Adventurous and Mindful Physicians." No group is legitimate without a snazzy acronym, so newly branded CAMP headed back out onto the trails. I loved our second day hike because not only did I feel incredibly close to my fellow hikers, but we also shared a lot of fantastic bonding activities planned by our fearless leader, Alec. My personal favorite was when we stopped next to a lean-to teepee in the woods and took the time to write a letter to our future selves. Surrounded by the calm whisper of wind through the leaves, I was able to reflect on what brought me to Michigan Medical School and what I was most excited and most anxious about. This activity was critical for helping me open up to both myself and my fellow CAMP-ers later that evening when we all shared some of our fears about medical school and realized that we are not alone in having those fears.

Campfire bonding

Shared vulnerability

Med school here we come

 

I am beyond grateful to have had the opportunity to explore my new state with my new friends before classes started. Although CAMP now hangs out more in study rooms together than in tents, having them by my side this past month has made our class' deep-dive back into biochemistry so much more manageable (and, for you science nerds out there, don't think for one minute that we didn't appreciate the "CAMP" / "cAMP" connection!).

© Copyright 1995-2024 Regents of the University of Michigan
Media Contact Public Relations

Department of Communication at Michigan Medicine

[email protected]

734-764-2220

Stay Informed

Want top health & research news weekly? Sign up for Health Lab’s newsletters today!

Subscribe
Featured News & Stories Photo portrait of Alan Phlipot, DCMB new CDA
Department News
The Gilbert S. Omenn Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics (DCMB) welcomes Alan Phlipot as its new Chief Department Administrator
Please welcome Alan Philpot as our new DCMB Chief Department Administrator (CDA), succeeding Mary Freer, who is retiring at the end of the year.
emergency sign wording in red on brick building
Health Lab
Refining tools that spot risk of violence in young adults in urban ERs may save lives
Half of young adult patients treated in emergency departments in three urban hospitals across the country reported experiencing violence either as a victim or aggressor, including firearm violence, in the six months prior to seeking treatment, according to a University of Michigan study.
Minding Memory with a microphone and a shadow of a microphone on a blue background
Minding Memory
Greenspace and Late-Life Cognitive Decline
In this episode Matt and Lauren will speak with Dr. Marcia Pescador Jimenez, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at Boston University whose research focuses on understanding the relationship between exposure to green space and health outcomes (including hypertension and cognitive measures). Emerging research has shown that midlife risk factors may delay or even prevent the onset of dementia later in life - among these include physical activity and social interaction. It’s not a stretch to imagine how a person’s environment may impact behaviors such as physical activity. For instance, there are places that lack sidewalks and parks that make exercising exceedingly difficult. Among environmental epidemiologists, there is growing interest in understanding how the built and natural environment influence our behaviors that, in turn, influence our health. We encourage you to listen to this episode while on a walk outside!
Cancer Aware
Pets and Cancer Patient Outcomes in the LGBT Community
In recent years, researchers have been studying the relationship between pets and overall cancer patient health outcomes. Today we talk with University of Michigan investigators Dr. Nina Francis-Levin, Ph.D., MSW, and Dr. Jess Francis-Levin, Ph.D. who are taking a closer look at this relationship within in the LBGT community.
group working together on leg prosthetic in work room, one on top by foot and the other two on the calf of leg
Health Lab
Enhancing mobility and independence through orthotics and prosthetics
Orthotics and prosthetics experts provide custom fabricated braces for every part of the body and prosthetic limbs for upper and lower extremities.
Health Lab Podcast in brackets with a background with a dark blue translucent layers over cells
Health Lab Podcast
Tips for managing anger in children
Expert offers strategies to help kids manage intense emotions as many parents report setting a bad example for anger management, worrying their child’s anger will cause problems.