For some motivated Cubs, the long—but brief—summer break is an opportunity to pursue their passions. This past summer, juniors and seniors showed how various programs can change their future career paths and add value to their lives.
Jake Pessin ‘25, Joaquin Lare ‘26 and Ryan Song ‘25 turned their aspirations of entering the medical field into valuable experiences through summer programs.
When discussing one of his opportunities at UC Riverside’s cadaver lab, Pessin shared, “We had the opportunity to dissect cadavers and were able to crack into someone’s knee!”
The opportunity to work in contact with cadavers filled Pessin with a sense of awe.
“It’s hard to comprehend that this was a living human being less than a year ago,” Pessin thoughtfully noted.
Similarly, Lare participated in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s INSPIRE internship. The program, a month in length, dives into both the research aspect and various careers of medicine.
Lare shared, “The INSPIRE program allowed me to see into all the behind-the-scenes activities that make a hospital function.”
During a shadowing experience, he was especially amazed by the necessity of statistics and data to save lives.
Lare enthusiastically exclaimed, “My mentor showed me a massive database with millions of patients’ data!”
Fascinated by the role of statistics in a hospital’s efficiency, he conducted a research study that analyzed previously collected data about hospital productivity.
“Hopefully, I will be able to publish a study that allows doctors to clearly see statistics on pancreatic cancer,” Lare said.
At Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center, Song pursued the Summer Youth Employment Program. Being one of the 50 selected interns, Song emphasized the unpredictability of the six weeks at Kaiser.
Song shared, “Immediately, we were mostly separated randomly into one of the hospital’s 40-plus different departments!”
He recalled so many hospital departments that he never saw during his six-week tenure.
Specifically, Song spent most of his summer in the Biomedical Engineering department.
“I was tasked to track specific kinds of medical devices, check their maintenance, and even help repair some units,” he explained.
Initially, Song was hesitant about his work in the Biomedical Engineering department as it gave him very little interest. However, he noted that his continuous interactions with physicians, and patients, eventually opened him up to this department.
Whether it was Pessin’s amazement at the Cadavers or Lare’s fascination with the statistics, all three students emphasized the relationships made in their experiences.
Pessin said, “I met a lot of amazing people throughout the programs. Whether it was our mentor Dr. Osborne or all the other ambitious students, my experience was a memorable one.”