The VCU School of Medicine welcomes the incoming class of unique and talented students to the MCV Campus.
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July 20, 2022
In the Class of 2026, you’ll find …
Three bakers, a home brewer and a horseback rider.
A fire and rescue specialist who’s staffed fire engines, medic units and critical care trucks.
Two surfers, a seamstress and dancers of salsa and swing.
Half of an identical twin pair, a third of a set of triplets and one from a family of nine kids.
An analog photographer, a doula, a notary public and a potter.
Players of cricket, rugby and squash, along with a triathlete, a powerlifter, one competitive rifle shooter, two rock climbers and three black belts in taekwondo.
Painters and a portraitist, plus an actress, a stand-up comedian and a Dungeon Master from Dungeons & Dragons.
A singer-songwriter as well as musicians on the piano, cello, violin, clarinet and saxophone.
Two Rubik’s Cube solvers, a holder of four passports, a speaker of six languages and a fan of Formula 1 racing.
On their way to medical school, they …
Worked in restaurants, a blueberry lab and emergency rooms, for AmeriCorps, at orthopaedic clinics and with a marine animal rescue center.
Taught art history, fifth grade science and indoor cycling.
Served as a paramedic, a tissue recovery coordinator, a park ranger, a nuclear medicine technologist and a curator of private libraries.
Collected postcards, houseplants and fridge magnets.
Researched jaguars in Belize, classic movies, the involvement of microRNA in anti-inflammatory pathways and at the National Cancer Institute.
Rescued a beagle named Lita and a cat stuck up a tree. Fostered over 50 animals. Adopted a chinchilla, two Holstein steer calves and a dingo named Scotch (accidentally).
Swam with pink jellyfish in Palau, scuba dived off the island of Kauai and drank snake soup to beat food allergies (unsuccessfully).
Rode a rollercoaster during an earthquake, sang for the Pope and put three stitches into their own face after being bit by a dog.
Learned the didgeridoo, went to North Korea on a Boy Scout trip, got lost in the Colorado wilderness, slept in an igloo for seven days and saved a seal.
Hit the road, with one student visiting 24 countries, another making it to 47 states and a third seeing nine national parks in the past year.
Hiked Angel's Landing in Zion National Park – “the scariest hike in America” – and rafted down whitewater rapids. All before landing on the MCV Campus.
In four years …
One may have golfed his third hole-in-one.
Another might have beaten her two brothers in a race to earn the first doctorate of the family.
And a third will be the first in their family embarking on a health care career.
In the Class of 2026, you’ll find …
Three bakers, a home brewer and a horseback rider.
A fire and rescue specialist who’s staffed fire engines, medic units and critical care trucks.
Two surfers, a seamstress and dancers of salsa and swing.
Half of an identical twin pair, a third of a set of triplets and one from a family of nine kids.
An analog photographer, a doula, a notary public and a potter.
Players of cricket, rugby and squash, along with a triathlete, a powerlifter, one competitive rifle shooter, two rock climbers and three black belts in taekwondo.
Painters and a portraitist, plus an actress, a stand-up comedian and a Dungeon Master from Dungeons & Dragons.
A singer-songwriter as well as musicians on the piano, cello, violin, clarinet and saxophone.
Two Rubik’s Cube solvers, a holder of four passports, a speaker of six languages and a fan of Formula 1 racing.
On their way to medical school, they …
Worked in restaurants, a blueberry lab and emergency rooms, for AmeriCorps, at orthopaedic clinics and with a marine animal rescue center.
Taught art history, fifth grade science and indoor cycling.
Served as a paramedic, a tissue recovery coordinator, a park ranger, a nuclear medicine technologist and a curator of private libraries.
Collected postcards, houseplants and fridge magnets.
Researched jaguars in Belize, classic movies, the involvement of microRNA in anti-inflammatory pathways and at the National Cancer Institute.
Rescued a beagle named Lita and a cat stuck up a tree. Fostered over 50 animals. Adopted a chinchilla, two Holstein steer calves and a dingo named Scotch (accidentally).
Swam with pink jellyfish in Palau, scuba dived off the island of Kauai and drank snake soup to beat food allergies (unsuccessfully).
Rode a rollercoaster during an earthquake, sang for the Pope and put three stitches into their own face after being bit by a dog.
Learned the didgeridoo, went to North Korea on a Boy Scout trip, got lost in the Colorado wilderness, slept in an igloo for seven days and saved a seal.
Hit the road, with one student visiting 24 countries, another making it to 47 states and a third seeing nine national parks in the past year.
Hiked Angel's Landing in Zion National Park – “the scariest hike in America” – and rafted down whitewater rapids. All before landing on the MCV Campus.
In four years …
One may have golfed his third hole-in-one.
Another might have beaten her two brothers in a race to earn the first doctorate of the family.
And a third will be the first in their family embarking on a health care career.
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In Pictures: The remarkable Class of 2026
Alexa Coe was a competitive pianist for 12 years.Alexis Dorsey is a Schwinn-certified indoor cycling instructor.Allie Armengol (right) has hiked in 23 different states and hopes to do all 50.Ankit Kumar is the captain of a cricket team in Richmond.Ben Krieger worked as a ski patroller in Utah for three years.Brendan Casola has been playing ice hockey since he was 3 years old.Brian Rothemich is an avid triathlete.Claire Keller is happiest when running up mountains, like these in the French Alps.Dana Dabson has been on mission trips to Haiti and Panama.An avid hiker, Daniel Rivkin once got lost in the Colorado wilderness and turned an 8-mile loop into a 26-mile overnight trek.Darius Lacy went on a skydiving adventure in 2019.Derek Smith performs regularly as a pianist and keyboard player.Emaan Dawood has played the clarinet for 11 years and was part of her college's pep band.Muhammed Ali asked to hold Emily Bassett when she was a baby.Emily Clark recently rescued two cows named Percy and Ginny. She is training them to be therapy cows.Erin Largen is an avid rock climber.Seen here at the Mysore Palace in India, Falen Mehari loves to travel and has visited five continents.Gabriyella McGee (Torres) is SCUBA certified and dove off the island of Kauai this summer.Giancarlo Bulfon has been involved in fire and rescue for 13 years, staffing fire engines, medic units and critical care trucks.Gurbani Jolly has been drawing and painting for 13 years and has placed in multiple contests.Ian Worstell has fostered over 50 animals, including dogs, cats, chickens, rabbits and one chinchilla.Jane Choi went on a skydiving adventure.Juliette Sweeney hiked Angel's Landing in Zion National Park, which is known as the scariest hike in America.Kaeden McClintock enjoys wakeboarding.Karishma Setia accidentally adopted a dingo last year. She named him Scotch.Kayla Tran is an avid baker. Pictured is one of her most successful bakes, a choux au craquelin with earl grey custard.Kiana Rahimi took a pottery class in college and has made over 60 pots since.Lindsay Irwin backpacked in Europe and visited nine different countries this summer.Loukas Kang spent his gap year treating sick or injured baby sea turtles and seals at a marine animal rescue center.Maggie Lefebvre met her husband via their shared sport of competitive rifle shooting, in which she competed at the Junior Olympics three times.Mariah O'Grady co-led a trip on Refugee Service Management this spring to Rome, Italy.In the past year, Omar Jafar has visited nine national parks.OreOluwa Aluko loves to crochet, making blankets, plushies and more.Rithvik Nalamalapu does powerlifting and will be competing in his first meet a day after the White Coat Ceremony.Ryan Nasser is a stand-up comedian.Shemariah Kentish is the daughter to Panamanian immigrants. She's pictured wearing a traditional pollera montuna dress.Shreya Shah was once surprised to see her face used as an advertisement on a bus.Sydney Barksdale studied abroad in Belize and helped research the jaguar population.Taharah Islam draws portraits of children around the world and sends the portraits to them.Tejal Patki danced at the Indian ambassador's house this summer.Tess Weidenkopf was in nine plays/musicals during college and was nominated for Best Actress by the Kennedy Center College Theatre Festival for her performance as Martha Dobie in The Children's Hour.Tiffany Ho took nine types of transportation when she traveled in Egypt.Van Chung played violin for 12 years and once at Carnegie Hall, seen here as the violinist in the first chair.Will Whiteside loves all things bicycles and biking.
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