Megan Thompson After graduating from Lakeland High School in 2001, Megan continued her education at the University of Idaho. She quickly became active in community service and leadership programs, and was selected for the Honors Program and the Model United Nations Program (MUN). Megan continued to participate in the MUN program each year, traveling to New York City every spring for the international conference, where every university represents a country and students simulate a session at the United Nations. Students prepare position papers ahead of time and write resolutions during conference sessions, with standards replicating the real UN process. Through this experience Megan has met the real delegates to the UN from several countries, including Romania, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Norway. During her last year with MUN Megan served as one of two head delegates for the team, teaching the class during the fall semester.
S.T.R.I.V.E. Lakeland Graduate
In Washington DC
Megan was actively involved with student government at the University of Idaho, serving as the ASUI Civic Engagement Board Chair and the ASUI Chief of Staff. She led workshops on integrating community service and leadership for fellow students at several conferences. Dedicated to service to others, Megan also completed a 300 hour Americorps program which included volunteering with several community organizations along with leading campus programs.
While local service is important to Megan, she also has her eye on the national scene. During the summer of 2005, Megan lived in Washington DC and worked as a legislative intern for Senator John F. Kerry. She described this as an incredible experience that furthered her passion for public service because she was able to see and work with individuals that were working to solve real problems, and Megan knew that was where she wanted to aim her career.
Upon graduating from the University of Idaho with a Bachelors of Public Communication (Cum Laude), minor in Sociology, and an Honors Certificate, Megan traveled to Australia for graduate school. She completed a Masters of Social Change and Development and a graduate certificate in Adult Education from the University of Wollongong. Megan recently moved to Washington DC to pursue a career in public policy, with a focus on domestic social issues such as health care, education, and issues that significantly impact children.
Ryan MacDonald
S.T.R.I.V.E. Lakeland Graduate
At Mayo Clinic
I applied to 17 schools for medical school and interviewed at four before I withdrew my application, turned down the rest of the interviews, and accepted an appointment at Mayo.
Since arriving at Mayo I have been developing my research interests in cardiovascular medicine and valvular heart disease. Also I've become very interested in congenital heart disease. I had the opportunity to write and help with several research studies varying in scope from case reports, to retrospective chart reviews, to prospective studies of thromboprophylaxis of implantable valves in swine.
In the third year of medical school we rotate through several clinical "clerkships" including internal medicine, pediatrics, surgery, OB/Gyn, Psychiatry, and Family med. These electives are very educational and take place in both the inpatient and outpatient setting. In addition we have a little bit of research and elective time. I was awarded a scholarship through the American association of thoracic surgeons to work for 8 weeks at the Mayo Division of Cardiovascular Surgery. This was an exciting opportunity for me and I was able to scrub many open heart surgery cases, including congenital heart cases.
Probably the biggest contribution to my elementary and high school education was STRIVE. I’ve told you this before, but I think that STRIVE really gave me a good group of friends who were similarly oriented intellectually, and gave me the opportunity to work creatively with them. When I approach problems, I don’t look at the problem, I look for solutions, and solutions in many forms. STRIVE was all about finding alternative solutions to problems and that has served me very well so far in medicine.
