Engaged Students Becoming Engaged Chiropractors with Sarai Camacho

Sarai Camacho is a D.C. student and Student Ambassador who represents the benefits of being all in in her chiropractic education, showing openness to learn and to serve in a way that will translate well in her student internship and eventual practice.

View video version on Youtube.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

S1 (00:30):
Hi guys. Welcome to another episode of Living Life at Life. Hugh,
I am your host, Doctor Veronica Garcia, and today I
am joined by a very special student in my heart,
Miss Sarai Camacho. Welcome. How are.

S2 (00:41):
You? I'm doing great. I'm so happy to be here.

S1 (00:43):
I'm so excited to have you. And I'm so excited
for people to know a little bit more about your
story and all the beautiful development and growth that you've
done at the university. So I'm so excited.

S2 (00:54):
I'm excited to share.

S1 (00:56):
Let's deep dive into it. You are in the chiropractic program. Yes. Um,
tell me, what inspired you to become a chiropractor.

S2 (01:03):
So, you know, you've heard the saying. Chiropractic. You don't
find chiropractic. It finds you. Well, that's exactly how I felt.
I had graduated undergrad and I knew that I wanted
to serve people. But what I graduated in my degree,
I was like, this isn't the way that I really
want to do it. And I ended up doing a
random job and was transitioning into something else and found

(01:25):
a chiropractic ad to work in an office. So I applied,
got accepted. Somehow the doc had asked me, do you
know anything about chiropractic? I was like, I know nothing.
And she found Grace and she was like hired me
on and truly was impactful for me, was seeing the
transformation in the patients. Like the doc never said anything
to me, hey, you should become a chiropractor or anything.

(01:48):
It was really there was people that would walk in
with their lights off and a lot of disease as
how I envisioned it. And then there would be months
of past weeks that would pass. And they were it
was like a 180. They were happy. They were joyous.
It's their perspective in the world had changed and I
was like, wow, why would I not want to be

(02:09):
part of such an amazing profession that does that? So
I told my doc, I was like, hey, I want
to go and be a chiropractor, but I know nothing.
How do I do that? And she was like, hey,
you want to go to a good university? Go to
life university. So I literally just signed up. I never
came to the campus. I applied and got accepted. And
then when I started classes like orientation weekend was the

(02:31):
first weekend I actually showed up on campus.

S1 (02:33):
Wow, what a walk of faith.

S2 (02:38):
I committed, I committed.

S1 (02:39):
Yeah. That's awesome. Oh my goodness. That just blew my mind.
I didn't know that part of your story. And now
you are closer towards the end. What quarter are you in?

S2 (02:50):
I'm currently in the 11th quarter. Double digits. Yeah. So
very close. I live next quarter is my last quarter
and then I'm off to peak and then graduation.

S1 (03:00):
Um, are you planning on and peak, by the way?
The peak is the program, um, that they do where
you work? Pretty much. You do an internship at an
office outside on the field and kind of start seeing
now that you have that experience from the front desk,
supportive part, but also to be now involved into the
patient's care and development. It's going to be such an

(03:22):
amazing experience, I'm sure. Are you planning on doing a
double peak? Which means that that she would finish it
in just one quarter? Or are you doing a single peak,
which means that you're doing it in six months?

S2 (03:31):
Yeah. So when I first started school, I was like,
you know, I'm just going to do the regular peak,
which is the two quarters. But as I get closer
to the end, I just feel really excited and prepared
to really go and serve people. So I'm just going
to get it done in one quarter and just kind
of prepare to open my own practice.

S3 (03:47):
I love that.

S1 (03:48):
So you have a beautiful background and a beautiful, beautiful story.
You're not from Georgia. Tell us a little bit of
where you're from and how it got you to here
to Georgia.

S2 (04:00):
Yeah, so I'm Colombian. I was born in Bogota, Colombia,
and when I was younger, my mom ended up moving
here to the States, Estates, and I was still back
home with my family, and I eventually got my green
card to come to the States when I was, I
think around the first grade six. I don't know the
exact age, but yeah. So then I came here and

(04:20):
learned English, which actually makes me laugh because everybody always
says to me like, hey, you don't have an accent.
And I was like, well, I pretty much have been here.
Like a lot of my life, it was because my
mom would always send us back home. But yeah, just
kind of lived in Georgia initially and then moved a
lot around in Georgia and ended up in Texas and
just have been through different parts of the country and

(04:41):
then miraculously found myself back in Georgia to go to
school here.

S1 (04:45):
I love that. And tell me a little bit about
your experience as a student. You are involved in different
organizations and different clubs and whatnot. Let's talk about that piece,
that that engagement piece. What are some of those organizations
that you're currently serving and involved in?

S2 (05:00):
Yeah, so I knew early on when I started school
that I really wanted to get involved with organizations and
really understand what was happening and how I wanted to
approach the profession because there are so many ways to
get involved. And I was like, okay, let me just
try different things. So I first started out with a K,
I tried a little bit of applied kinesiology and I

(05:21):
was like, okay, it was cool. It kind of fed
a part of me that needed to grow. And then
I got really involved with MLS and was on leadership
and found a lot of growth opportunities there, too, not
just in my adjusting, but also in being able to
lead people in that way. I also got involved with
student ambassadors. So I currently serve as a secretary for

(05:44):
student Ambassadors and really appreciate that role, because Life University
has given me so much. And to be able to
give back to students that are kind of figuring out, hey,
is this a place where I want to be? I'm like,
I love pouring back into that and just showing them
the university through my eyes is a huge thing, and
I'm pumped. So those are kind of more of the

(06:06):
organizations that I've been involved with and with MLS. I
stepped down off of leadership as I'm beginning to transition
to focus forward on, hey, what do I need to
do to open up my own practice? That's a lot.

S1 (06:18):
That's a big piece of growth. Also, as you're redirecting
and finding, okay, what's next that allows me to continue
propelling and and that that I need to kind of
hyper focus a little bit on because graduation is a
big thing. Yeah, it's a really big exciting thing. And
the world is ready for Sarai. Let me tell you,
we are ready. We definitely are ready.

S4 (06:40):
I am pumped, I'm ready to serve for sure.

S1 (06:42):
That's beautiful. Tell me a little bit about now the
academic portion, like your growth starting first quarter where you
envision yourself and how it's been changing or growing through.

S2 (06:52):
Yeah. So when I first started the program, I was
terrified because it was like it felt like a very
daunting thing. And, you know, I'm still I'm in the
11th quarter now, and I still feel that daunting ness
of like, wow, I actually went through that. But, you know,
you're kind of learning the basic sciences. You're kind of
I personally feel like I learned the body in separate domains, like, hey,

(07:13):
you know, this system and this system. And as I
kind of went through the program really realizing, oh, okay,
but now this is how they come together and this
is how you can apply it in a clinical setting.
And really seeing the pieces come together as a whole
really changing. I was like, oh, okay, this is how
the body works, and this is why it does the

(07:34):
way it does. And knowing those little systems really helped.
So school has been a roller coaster of a journey,
but it's been really worth it. And it's changed my perspective,
and it's helped me grow from being just a student
to knowing that I am a doctor. And when I graduate,
I'll be a doctor and I can help people through
their journey of life and having the confidence to do that.

S1 (07:56):
Yeah, that's that's such an amazing piece of it. Because definitely.
And I think that's a that's a big piece that
separates us, as in chiropractors from a lot of other
healthcare providers, which maybe are specialized or more focused in
this one system. Right? We get to learn and focus
and manage all of the systems, and it's a beautiful

(08:18):
thing to have those conversations. Now, mind you, we do
have specialties within chiropractic also, which is important, which I'm like,
that's outside of my knowledge. I want to refer you
out for this other person that might be might be
able to help you, but to understand and to see
you see. Looking back, I'm like, oh, I used to
have this, this versus that. And now I can kind

(08:39):
of put everything together into a more clinical setting. That
definitely just brings me so much joy and happiness, because
the people that you're going to serve are going to
also see it, and they're going to accept it in
such an amazing and graceful way because you are like that. Yeah.
So I'm so excited for that. Um, so tell me
a little bit of if you had to give some
advice to maybe someone that's even interested in chiropractic, but

(09:00):
doesn't really know because they've never been to the school
or they've they've been into, I may have gone to
a chiropractor or know about it from an ad, but
don't really know what it what it is. What is
what would be something that you tell to that person
that chiropractic is a question mark. Um, for them.

S2 (09:18):
That's a really good question, and to be honest, I
think I would approach it from the sense of like, hey, well,
I can tell you what chiropractic has done for me
and the direction and the light that it's been in
my life, but I would think I would also kind
of urge them to go to a chiropractic office and
just shadow and from being in that space alone, if

(09:42):
that's somewhere where that person is called, they'll begin to
feel it in their field because they'll see, ah, this
is how you transform people's lives from darkness to light.
This is a place that can be done that we
can do that in. And just for them to be
around that, I think it's highly valuable or to speak
to chiropractors that are in the field and on fire
for the things that they're doing or even, hey, come

(10:05):
to life University and let's check it out together.

S1 (10:07):
Yeah, I love that. I hear that you were recently, um,
speaking in part of an engagement of chiropractic and nonetheless.
But the country of Cuba. Yeah. Tell me a little
bit about that experience. What was it? What is it?
What happened?

S2 (10:24):
Yeah, so I work. I've done a lot of mission
work with Cairo Missions. It's an organization that I see
a lot of value, and I see their heart for
wanting to serve underserved communities in all the different ways.
And as I know that there is a purpose for
that here in the US, their heart is in the D.R.

(10:46):
and Haiti. And just through the experiences that I've gotten
to go serve, I'm like, man, this is a mission.
This is something that aligns with me and I want
to pour back into. So I've done a couple of
those and really have gotten great mentorship from Peter Morgan,
which he's a gentleman that leads those. And I got
a random text a couple of months ago. It's like, Hey, Sarai, like,

(11:08):
I'd love for you to come and speak at my
conference in Cuba as, like one of the only two
students that has come in, like, can you please make
that happen? And I looked over my husband and I
was like, I think we're going to Cuba. And he
was like, what? Random. Super. So we finally came to
the decision. He was like, yeah, let's go. So we
ended up, you know, preparing mostly because I hadn't heard

(11:31):
much about Cuba. So just going and speaking and it
was really focused on humanitarianism and chiropractic and how we can,
you know, how we can grow not just Cairo missions,
but other missions and how we can share that vision
with people that are coming up in the profession, people
that are in the profession, and really to be able

(11:51):
to sit and have talks and hear talks from doctors
that have been in the profession for a long time,
that their heart is continuously on fire. As a student,
that was so, so empowering. And also to just be
able to talk to them and share my heart and
how I have a huge desire for missions and I
want to continue that type of work once I graduate

(12:12):
from school. It was beautiful to have them encourage me
in my path and be like, yes, this is exactly
where you need to be. It's just such a reassurance
as well as it was really amazing to be in Cuba.
It was such a different experience and to share that
with the dogs, to share that with the students that
came with us, it was really, really cool.

S1 (12:33):
How exciting, how amazing to see you grow and to
have a little part in this huge piece of chiropractic,
because that every single teeny tiny part makes a change
and affects change and affects people and affects the world.
So thank you for believing in yourself, just stepping in
into that role and to saying, you know, it's a
random text, but yes, let's do it. Let's let's dive in.

(12:55):
Let's dive in head first. And I think that's something that, um,
it has definitely set you apart. And ever since you
were a student with me in clinic that very first quarter,
it has set you apart from the beginning. And that's
why we see you. And I was so excited for
this podcast because it's it's really refreshing to see someone
so dedicated and at the same time. So just focus

(13:16):
and being able to be as personable and as loving
as you always have been. So thank you for stepping
into that call. Um, I'm excited to see your growth. I'm.
I'm excited to see your next steps. I'm excited for
the world to get to be served by you and
continue to do so. And also, you're working on missions
and just missions around the world, because I know that

(13:36):
that speaks to many individuals. Um, those that don't have
access to that chiropractic down the road, but to be
able to give and provide that. It's amazing. It really is.

S2 (13:47):
I really, really appreciate that. I think that's really all
doable because of the people that have been surrounded with,
from my clinic docs, from the faculty that have been
here continuously pouring back. It really does make a difference.
And as a student, I'm super grateful for it. Thank you.

S1 (14:02):
I'm so happy. So happy. Well, thank you so much
for being here. I really appreciate your time. I value
it so much. I value your spirit. So thank you
for being here and sharing. I appreciate that and we'll
see you guys in the next episode of living a
life a life. You take care. Bye bye.

S5 (14:16):
Guys.