CC’s Pre-Health Profession Club (HPC) works to prepare students for careers in medical professions, including the medical, dental, and veterinarian fields. The club is run almost entirely by students, which both empowers older students to share their experiences on the pre-med track, while also giving younger students an opportunity to learn from their peers who are in a similar position. Students bond while studying for graduate exams, selecting pre-med courses required for their field, and preparing for a career in a health profession.
“The Pre-Health Professions Club is a student-led organization dedicated to nurturing the aspirations of future healthcare professionals,” says HPC Vice President Julia Solano ’24. “Comprised of driven individuals passionate about dental, medical, optometry, nursing, pharmacy, and other health-related fields, HPC serves as a dynamic hub of support, resources, and mentorship. Our mission extends beyond the confines of academia as we strive to make a tangible impact both on the Colorado College campus and within the broader Colorado Springs community. Through fostering meaningful connections with healthcare professionals in our area, HPC empowers members to engage in real-world experiences, build invaluable networks, and ultimately contribute to the betterment of healthcare locally and beyond.”
Solano joined the club during the second semester of her first year at CC because she wanted to pursue the pre-med track. She’s been an active member for four years and is about to graduate as a Neuroscience major and Biochemistry minor on the pre-med track.
“HPC provides a wealth of resources, including guidance on course selection, exploration of available programs, future research prospects, and a multitude of other invaluable opportunities,” Solano says. “Many students on campus mistakenly believe that HPC caters exclusively to those interested in pre-med, yet it equally serves students aspiring to pursue paths in pre-vet, pre-dental, and various other health professions. This club holds significant importance as it serves as a platform for pre-health professions students to discuss their aspirations and delineate the necessary steps toward achieving them.”
The club meets once a block to provide CC students with information and advice on how to start the journey into the healthcare professions. During meetings, the club board advises students on how to plan their schedule as a pre-health student and what they need to know before standardized tests. The board also arranges for graduate school admission committees to speak to club members, and hosts alumni and Minorities in Healthcare panels.
One of Solano’s favorite parts of being involved with HPC occurs annually when the club hosts an alumni panel, where former CC students share their personal journeys of applying to medical, dental, and other graduate level schools.
“This experience is incredibly enriching as it provides firsthand insights from individuals who once stood in our shoes as CC students,” she says. “It’s not only reassuring to witness their achievements, but it also instills a sense of capability in us. Additionally, these panels serve as fantastic networking opportunities, fostering connections that can prove invaluable in our own career paths. I particularly cherish the occasions when we organize our Minorities in Healthcare panel as well. Representation within the medical field can be sparse at times, potentially dissuading students. However, this panel serves as a powerful reminder that with dedication and perseverance, any goal is attainable. It showcases that regardless of background, one can carve out their path and excel in the medical profession.”
During her sophomore year, Solano worked closely with the executive board to revitalize the club’s popularity and organizational framework, as participation had gone down significantly after COVID. She served as the club’s community liaison during her junior year, where she communicated with other clubs on campus and organizations in the Colorado Springs community to collaborate on events and fundraisers.
“The Pre-Health Professions Club at CC works to support students looking to pursue careers in healthcare by offering advising, volunteer opportunities, diverse perspectives, and community,” says HPC President Nicholas Firestone ’24, a Neuroscience major on the pre-med path. “The path to a healthcare profession can be difficult, and our club works to support and educate fellow CC students on as many different aspects of the process as possible.”
Firestone joined HPC as a first-year student who did not know much about the pre-health path, other than his desire to pursue a career in the medical field.
“I love helping younger students choose their classes in the advising sessions,” says Firestone, who also directs Colorado College Emergency Medical Services, a student-run medical first response team. “It is awesome to get to know younger students, and it is definitely very helpful to people who do not know that much about the different professors or when they should take certain classes.”
Annabelle Swenson ’25, a Molecular Biology major and History minor who is on the pre-med track for a career in orthopedics, joined HPC during her first year at CC. She thought that the club would be a great way to meet people with similar career aspirations and remind her that she is not alone in her pre-health profession struggle.
“Doing STEM classes, balancing and finding the other recommended activities, all while also trying to enjoy my time in college is sometimes really difficult,” says Swenson. “The club provides nice structure to form a support system. If you are thinking about a career in something health-related, this club is so important! When I first decided I wanted to go to medical school, I thought that there was a very clear checklist of things I would need to do to get there. I wanted to know exactly how many hours of research or other things I needed to do, and I was often pulled into things I didn’t really care about because I thought they were the ‘right’ things to do. In the Pre-Health Professions club, I got to meet so many other CC students who wanted the same thing I did, and learned the unique paths each person was taking to get there. This encouraged me to get involved with things that are truly meaningful to me and build my pre-med experience around that, rather than the other way around.”
One of Swenson’s favorite experiences in the club is being able to mentor younger students and share what she knows about the pre-med process. “It has been so rewarding to feel like I have made a small difference in helping others achieve their goals the same way others did for me,” she says. “This culture extends beyond CC, as alumni return to speak on a panel about their experiences. Everyone just wants everyone to succeed, and it’s amazing.”
In addition to pre-med advising, the club offers various opportunities for students to get involved with the local community through various initiatives, including blood and food drives, and the Warm Items Drive, which benefits both the Springs Rescue Mission and the Colorado Springs Mutual Aid Fund.
Swenson serves as the club’s volunteer and drive coordinator, where she works to get club members connected not only to each other, but also to the larger Colorado Springs community through drives and club BreakOut trips.
“Looking ahead, we’re excited to introduce a new initiative aimed at utilizing leftover Gold Card funds to purchase nonperishable items for donation to the Colorado Springs Rescue Mission Center,” Solano says. “Furthermore, we’re gearing up for a banquet in Block 6, with all proceeds earmarked for Operation Smile, a nonprofit dedicated to providing life-changing cleft surgeries for children in need.”
Health Professions Advising Manager and Student Success Specialist Jane Byrnes is the club’s staff advisor. The club’s executive board works closely with Byrnes on running meetings and advising club members. Because Byrnes keeps in contact with so many of her former advisees, many of whom are now working in health professions, she has many alumni and graduate school contacts, and helps to arrange for speakers to return to campus to speak with club members.
“I found that one of the best things to do for students is to bring in fellow students, people who have been through the classes and the whole application process and show them that, ‘watch, all this work really does pay off’,” Byrnes says. “The students get to hear about fellow students who got into medical school and hear about their experiences.”
Byrnes works towards ensuring that the panels showcase diversity, both among the panelists themselves, but also in terms of professions.
“We bring in different presenters and speakers in different areas,” Byrnes says. “We’ve had the army come in to talk — they have a wonderful scholarship program. We have had local certified nurse assistant programs come in too, because that’s a great thing to do when you’re trying to get experience before you go on to these programs. The anesthesiology assistant program from CU recently spoke on campus and the University of Colorado School of Medicine is coming in April.”
Byrnes also includes panelists who didn’t get accepted into graduate school on their first try and had to reapply later. “The reality is, not everybody gets in,” she says. “The national average of accepted applicants for med school is forty-five percent nationally. At CC, we range between seventy-five and eighty-five percent accepted.”
Byrnes has been at pre-health advisor at CC for 16 years and has supported the HPC for the entire time. However, she began bringing alumni back to campus about eight years ago, which has been a great opportunity for CC students.
“I think not everyone fully realizes about fifteen to twenty percent of CC students are pre-health students,” Byrnes says. “That is a huge amount of students. We have quite a few alums who are in the health professions field.”
The club says that although membership and attendance went down during COVID, it is now back and better than ever. HPC has about 70 active members and all CC students are welcome to join. The time commitment varies depending on the members’ availability and interest, but there are usually outreach and drive opportunities year-round for interested and available students.
Are you an alum working in a health care profession? Would you like to get involved with CC’s HPC? Contact Julia Solano.