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Match Day 2008 >> Class of 2008 Residency Appointments >> Photo Gallery 
 Thomas “Jake” Lee  Listen Now
 Thomas “Jake” Lee  Charles Kirkland Listen Now
 Charles Kirkland  Amanda Mularz Listen Now
 Amanda Mularz  Sheree Walker Listen Now
 Sheree Walker  Kathryn and Ryan Pettit Listen Now
 Kathryn and Ryan Pettit USA Medical Students Celebrate Match Day It took only seconds for the dozens of member of the University of South Alabama’s 2008 medical school class to rip into envelopes that revealed where they would undergo their residency training, but Thursday’s ceremony marked a celebration of years of work and decisions. “It’s mind blowing to actually think we’re here now,” class president Jake Lee said a day before the event. Sixty-four members for the 65-member class gathered Thursday morning in the Magnolia Ballroom on USA’s Brookley Campus to open their envelopes. They were not alone ----- medical students across the United States opened their envelopes at the same time as part of the National Residency Matching Program. All members of the 2008 class received matches, according to school officials. In the next several months, the soon-to-be graduates will spread out across the country to begin their training at various institutions. Lee, who chose a military match, will be headed to Lackland Air Force Base near San Antonio Texas. Like many of his classmates, Lee took an adventurous and, at times, bumpy road to his upcoming doctorate degree and residency. After a rough academic start to a bachelor degree, he said he gave up his plans of becoming a doctor and instead settled on a chemical engineering degree. That landed him a steady career, but he wasn’t satisfied. “After about a year and a half, my wife and I took an EMT course together, and that kind of set us on the course to fulfill our dreams.” The tension grew in the room Thursday as students received their envelopes and eagerly waited for Dr. Maggi O’Brien, associate dean of student affairs, to ring a bell signaling they could be open. Several students tried to get an early look, holding their envelopes to the light. Finally, O’Brien gave the word. “Everybody ready?” she asked, and rang the bell. Squeals and shouts instantly filled the room, indicating that many of the students received their first choices. Ryan and Katie Pettit, a couple who had pursued a couple’s match in order to be in the same place, received their first choices: both will practice at private hospitals in Cincinnati. The match moves the Pettits closer to Ryan Pettit’s family, meaning they will have a family nanny for their son, who is due any day now. “Now we get the nanny!” Katie Pettit said. At the next table, Sheree Walker celebrated her news with her father, Everette Walker. She will begin her career at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, practicing internal medicine with a goal of becoming a cardiologist. Everette Walker said he was proud of his daughter, and couldn’t wait to visit. “I go to Charleston at least once a year,” he told her. “You’ll like it, Sheree. It’s a big city, but it’s small.” After each of the classmates took a few minutes to celebrate their matches with family and friends, they began to walk to the podium and announce where they would be going, then pinned their destination on a U.S. map. Amanda Mularz and Steven Balati were first to be at the podium. Mularz, an NCAA division I All-American swimmer at Rice University, chose to attend USA after turning down an opportunity to train for the 2004 Olympics in Athens. The couple met during medical school at USA and are getting married May 24th, so they also pursued a couple’s match. Both will be practicing obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Mularz announced. The students of the College of Medicine Class of 2008 will receive Doctor of Medicine degrees during USA’s spring commencement ceremony May 3. |
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