The Undergraduate Medical Academy sponsored a white coat ceremony on Oct. 26 for students who excelled in academics, leadership, and community service.
Students in the undergraduate medical academy were able to take part in a ceremony that is sacred to the medical community and indication of what is to come as these students matriculate through medical school.
The white coat ceremony was initiated on Aug. 20, 1993 at the Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons.
The Gold Foundation describes the WCC as an experience by which “participating schools alert beginning students to the need to balance excellence in science with compassionate patient care and helps to identify the characteristics of a complete doctor”.
Since its beginnings the white coat ceremony has spread both nationally and internationally, and today more than 100 American medical schools take part in this ceremony.
The white coat ceremony has become something like a global epidemic representing a rite of passage for physicians globally; with ceremonies taking place in various counties including: Canada, Australia, Romania, and Novara.
The white coat itself represents integrity, professionalism, responsibility, purity of purpose, and a constant reminder of the oath physicians take. Many people also associate the coat with a lifelong commitment to medicine and service.
A lot of thought goes into every aspect of the white coats for example length: the longer the coat, the higher the status and experience of its wearer.
One of the most important aspects of the coat itself is the amount of respect given to the coat by both the persons wearing the coat and the persons receiving service; because to wear a white coat is to accept an immense amount of responsibility, and to receive service is to trust that the person wearing the white coat embodies every characteristic of which the coat represents.
In the Prairie View white coat ceremony every year a class is brought in and named by the director, Dr. Dennis E. Daniels, after a stone that he feels the class most personify.
This year the 2013 class was named the Sapphire Class which was very symbolic of the class. The blue of the sapphire has become a stone which represents everything that is constant and dependable. The 18 students of the sapphire class looked very professional in their crisp white coats.
“It is truly a blessing words cannot express and definitely a step towards my future, I’ve seen myself grow so much in such a short time, and my future is looking brighter every day,” said sophomore biology major and white coat recipient Ivy Walls.