Five Creighton sophomores have been working around the clock to plan a nine-day trip to Ecuador as a part of the new MEDLIFE chapter on campus. MEDLIFE stands for medicine, education and development for low- income families everywhere.
The brand new MEDLIFE chapter began as a goal of Arts & Sciences sophomore Shayla Shojaat, President of MEDLIFE who was inspired by her role model and sister, Shereen. Shereen was a member of the organization at Iowa State University and had the privilege of traveling to Lima, Peru through MEDLIFE. Shereen began telling her sister the impact she had been able to make and the importance of global health.
Shojaat’s interest was piqued. Following in her sister’s shoes, she said she wanted to discover the beauty that is found in providing service for and with others. Immediately, she began researching MEDLIFE and discovered that, although there were 130 chapters nationwide, Creighton did not yet have one.
She reached out to MEDLIFE’s national organization and who paired with Adrianna Carlesimo, a mentor from Lima, Peru, whose zeal and passion for starting a new chapter was just as great as Shojaat’s. Just a short application process and a few interviews later, the chapter was in its foundational stage. That was only the beginning of the hard work to follow.
Shojaat started working with Katie Kelsey from the Student Activites Office (SAO).
“There were many obstacles and hoops to jump through, but I found that they were all very doable,” Shojaat said.
They obtained a professor moderator, began drafting bylaws and completed a written application and interviews. By January of this year, SAO credited the organization.
Her next move was to form a team of executives, the students who would support and dedicate their lives to the formation and development of their new chapter. Arts & Sciences sophomores Kevin Mugno, Adrienne Pyle and Stefano Byer and Nursing sophomore Kelsey Welding stepped on board. Together, the team held an informational meeting and to its surprise, over 100 students expressed interest.
The project was now in full swing, and the executive team began giving hours of its time every day to plan a nine-day trip over spring break to Riobamba, Ecuador. Welding explained that MEDLIFE sends students to underprivileged communities every year. There, the volunteers provide low-income families with the necessary tools, skills and educationto live healthy lives. The executive team, along with 21 other students, will lend their hands in various ways on the trip.
Before the team could book flights or pack bags, it took extensive measures to make sure it checked off everything on the to-do list. The executives worked with Student Health to ensure students traveling to Ecuador have access to proper vaccinations upheld by CDC regulations. Next they contacted International Programs about traveler’s insurance, liability and trip logistics. Their travel agent helped them coordinate flights. They also did extensive research on how to prepare—what to wear, what kinds of food to eat and any other everyday details they might otherwise forget.
Specifically, they will spend the first four days hosting a mobile medical clinic where students work alongside local doctors, physicians and students from other universities to provide vaccinations, dental hygiene or care for injuries. The last five days of the trip include a community development project.
“We will be meeting the needs of the local community any way we can,” vice president Pyle said. “Sometimes that’s building staircases throughout the Andes Mountains to transport clean water more safely. Other projects have been constructing small medical waiting rooms or schoolhouses.”
While members of the group admit this trip has been a time-consuming project, their excitement far outweighs their worries and hesitations. Mugno expressed his concerns about “how our trip-goers will experience life and medicine outside of the United States,” but he points out that is exactly what the goal is: to “see medicine through a holistic approach and to understand the root definitions of what it means to aid others in need.”
Pyle’s concerns are of a different nature.
“The only things I’m nervous about for this upcoming trip are things that are out of our control: for example, flights getting delayed or someone getting ill,” Pyle said.
However, they know they are extremely prepared and can not wait to lift off. Shojaat said she is most eager to “live in solidarity and community with the indigenous people … and experience a beautiful and genuine love along with my fellow peers.”
The group’s dreams for their MEDLIFE chapter extend far beyond this single trip. Executive team member Byer explained that before their efforts, Creighton “seriously lacked an easily-accessible humanitarian organization that sent primarily undergraduate students to the developing world.” Their goal, he said, is “to leave Creighton in a position that it can better facilitate these experiences for students our age.”
Shojaat added that eventually they hope to replicate their activities abroad in the Omaha community. She said she has developed plans to “start fundraising initiatives and reach out to alumni to create a more holistic MEDLIFE community.” Collectively, the team hopes MEDLIFE will grow into a major student organization, hosting several trips per year, and become an interdisciplinary group where students of all pre-professional tracks will be able to participate.
“It’s really truly giving of yourself in a way that’s totally countercultural. I feel like as college students everyone is kind of pulled toward the typical spring break,” Pyle said.
Shojaat added her joy that this group “allows individuals to step outside of their own realities and create a world in which they are bettering and striving to be the best that they can be.”
No matter their reason for joining, each of these five students expressed his or her incredible fulfillment and satisfaction he or she felt from the work they’re all doing to transform lives both in the States and abroad.
“I feel this group will allow our Creighton community to come together on the basis of a fundamental principal in which we all believe: the beauty and value of service for and with others,” Shojaat said.
Upon returning from Ecuador, the group will begin planning its next trip with Tanzania as a potential destination. They are also working on fundraisers for future events and an event called the MEDxTalk, which imitates the popular TEDxTalk, but features speakers from medicinal, educational and developmental backgrounds.
The executive team members encourage anyone interested to reach out to them. To learn more, there will be an informational meeting sometime after spring break.
Left to Right: CU MEDLIFE executive team Kevin Mugno, Kelsey Welding, Adrienne Pyle, Shayla Shojaat and Stefano Byer pose outside St. John’s.
