White Coat Ceremony

Last Friday Paul had his White Coat Ceremony for school. He got a white coat and had to take the PA Oath. It was really neat listening to the speakers. They talked about the significance of the white coat and the amount of applicants they had. They had 1300 applicants this year and only accepted 53 of those applicants. The first year the school took applications they only had 47 applicants and only accepted 27 applicants. So, EVMS has done some major changes in the many years that they have taken applicantions for PA's. Then, another speaker gave us the significance of the "short" white coat that Paul got that day. The "short" white coat means that he is still a student and only "practicing." The long white coat that he will receive on the day he graduates means that he is ready for the real world and ready to "practice" on his own and not in a school setting anymore.

Taking the PA Oath.

Afterwards, all smiles...or as Paul would say, "Now that I have this coat, the journey really begins and my gray hairs are coming!!"

His dad came to the ceremony!

This is Paul's friend, Kenny. They were in the initial interview together. They live a block away from us. We carpool with them to and from school. Kenny's wife takes them and I pick them up when they are ready. They are a really nice family and we have had fun getting to know them and hang out with them. They had us over the next day for supper. It was really good...they introduced us to some Utah Mexican food!! I'll have to get the receipe from Jenny so I can make it when I visit home!

Now, the fun begins for us! Paul has his first test today. He was on campus late last night and when he got home he stayed up for another hour or so to continue studying. His mentor, Gary wasn't joking after the White Coat Ceremony when he said that his life was over and welcome to the world of studying all of the time and spending endless hours at school in the library and lab. This is nothing really new for me or for Paul when it comes to studying. He studied a lot for his undergraduate classes and spent a lot of time at school for clinicals so we're used to this pace...just not this fast of a pace. They say it's easy to get behind so he's constantly trying to stay ahead! I know he will make a great PA, I'm so proud of him!!!