NYLF selects NMI’s Pierce for Medicine forum

By Marconi Calindas
Reporter

The National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine, an event intended to help prepare promising future physicians of the nation, has selected the CNMI’s own Beck Pierce to participate in the 2005 edition of the forum this summer. Pierce will be joining a select group of 350 students across America for the forum, which will give them a chance to study and learn from some of the nation’s most distinguished medical leaders and researchers, whose dedication and ability make them top notch in their professions.

Pierce, 16, is the youngest child of Richard Pierce and Marian Aldan-Pierce and is currently a junior at Hawaii Preparatory Academy in Waimea on the Big Island in Hawaii. Pierce attended Mt. Carmel School and Saipan International School before moving to HPA. She has two sisters, Janelle and Jadene and one brother, Conno, who is currently attending Seattle University.

Pierce was recommended to the NYLF on Medicine by HPA’s Dr. Marie Sutton for her academic excellence, leadership, potential and intent to pursue a career in medicine.

Pierce will also be joining a Spanish class trip to Peru in June for a month. It’s a combination community/classroom type program where she will earn two college credits in Spanish. While there, they will work with needy children, paint classrooms, do home stay—all the while speaking only Spanish. They will also do a side trip to Machu Picchu and other historic sites.

Due to the timing of the Peru trip—to take place from June 2 to July 2—Pierce will either attend the NYLF on Medicine in Galveston or Los Angeles.

Paula Seesman, NYLF director for Office of Admissions, informed Pierce of her participation in the forum, which would provide her the opportunity to be with other outstanding high school students from across America “who share her dreams and determination to discover and be guided by the country’s most prominent and the best medical institutions.”

Pierce will also have the chance to go on a day-long visit to these medical institutions to examine state-of-the-art diagnostic tools and future medical specialties.

The NYLF on medicine continues to be the avenue for top-caliber individuals who have shown potential and academic skills for medicine. The forum will encourage lasting friendships with future colleagues and can make these students view the world of medicine from an angle like no other.

The NYLF on Medicine is a 10-day program offering comprehensive and intense exploration of the field of medicine. The event is held each summer at renowned medical centers in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston-Galveston, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Phoenix-Tucson, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. It is the nation’s foremost program in pre-medical education for high school students, which began in 1993, and this year approximate of 8,800 students will attend all programs under NYLF, including attendees to the medicine program.