发现他乐于助人的热情

在RWU, Cory Letendre realized his true passion: Providing direct medical care to underserved and uninsured adults. Letendre came to this realization by taking the knowledge and skills he learned as a biology and public health major at Roger Williams University and applying it directly in the field.

自2017年以来, Letendre has been volunteering at the Rhode Island 免费诊所 in Providence, where he started as a medical assistant volunteer before becoming a health services intern. 最近，他 成为 哈森菲尔德学生领导研究员. It led him to invest more hours at the clinic, bringing him to over 400 hours served.

“Taking the skills in my public health courses and applying them to what I’m doing in the field and seeing public health in action, is one of the many ways that my coursework here has helped in preparing me for the real world.”

The Hassenfeld Student Leadership Fellowship Program enables students to build real-world skills by working with community partners, while creating a meaningful impact on the communities within which they learn, 工作和生活. For Letendre, that has meant performing blood pressure and diabetes checks at the R.I. 免费诊所, and screening patients for potential mental health issues using a protocol that he developed himself.

Letendre says it was the combination of his courses in biology, 解剖学, and genetics and his public health classes around nutrition and mental health that gave him the foundational knowledge he needed to excel at the clinic.

“The education at RWU and transferable skills we learn in our courses is extremely helpful because employers love when people can not only do things, 还要有做这些事情背后的知识,Letendre说.

It’s one of the many things that has made his experience at Roger Williams noteworthy and worth while.

同时也是哈森菲尔德研究员, Letendre is also STEM Intercultural Leadership Ambassador, which recognizes and rewards full-tuition scholarships to students from diverse backgrounds who demonstrate great academic and leadership potential in STEM fields.

随着五月毕业的临近, Letendre – a Pawtucket native – says he knows that his involvement in the community will not end. He plans to continue volunteering at the clinic and hopes that his work will inspire others to do the same.

It’s a passion that will continue to drive him forward, he says.