In this episode, the 2024 AAAA DEI Committee chair, Arielle, and I, dive into the goals and selection process for the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion AAAA scholarship. This scholarship is designed to create a more inclusive CAA community by valuing each applicant's unique story. With criteria that emphasize student involvement and contributions to diversity, the scholarship seeks to ensure representation and prevent bias.
Consider this your sneak peek into the upcoming PROCESS episode featuring the 2024 DEI scholarship winners, Ellen and Tekiah. Don't miss this opportunity to be inspired by Arielle's impactful work and continue supporting diversity within the anesthesia field.
Key Acronyms
- DEI- Diversity, Equity, Inclusion
- AAAA- American Academy of Anesthesiologist Assistants
- CAA- Certified Anesthesiologist Assistants
- SAA- Student Anesthesiologist Assistant
Key Links
- Email the 2024 DEI Committee Chair to get involved aknafel@mcw.edu
- Join the AAAA (must be AAAA member to apply for DEI scholarship)
- DONATE NOW DEI Scholarship - AAAA
- LEARN MORE DEI Scholarship Requirements
- APPLY for the DEI Scholarship 2025 (application open thru mid December 2024)
You can now text me! Questions/Suggestions
Sign up to learn how you can join the first Pre-AA cohort of CAA Matters and get a rare head start in AA school. Learn More
+Check out my Pre-AA Highlight on IG
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to the Awakened Anesthetist podcast,
the first podcast to highlightthe CAA experience.
I'm your host, Mary Jean, andI've been a certified
anesthesiologist assistant forclose to two decades.
Throughout my journey andstruggles, I've searched for
guidance that includes my uniqueperspective as a CAA, At one of
(00:42):
my lowest one.
I encourage you to stick aroundand experience the power of
being in a community filled withvoices who sound like yours,
sharing experiences you neverbelieved possible.
I know you will find yourselfhere at the Awakened Anesthetist
Podcast.
Welcome in.
(01:03):
Hello Awakened Anesthetistcommunity.
This is your host, mary jean.
A little something differenthere.
I actually meant for this bitwith ariel, who you're about to
meet.
She is the current dei quad acommittee chair.
I meant for this to be aprecursor, like a little intro,
into what the DEI committee isand the DEI scholarship that
(01:27):
that committee has created andfunds and gives out every year.
But, like everyone else,arielle has her own story and
she is more than just the DEIcommittee chair, and I couldn't
help but ask her a couple morequestions and it turned into an
episode that I think is reallyworth highlighting the work that
Ariel does as the DEI committeechair and how she got involved
(01:51):
as a student and then sort ofmoved up through the ranks, and
she also shed some light on thehistory of the DEI scholarship,
as Ariel was the initial winnerin 2020 of that first ever
scholarship and now she is onthe committee that awards future
scholarships.
So I really wanted to giveArielle the time that she
(02:12):
deserves.
She's done so much great workwith this DEI subcommittee and
for the Quad A.
So consider Arielle's episode alittle precursor to the episode
that releases in a couple dayswhere I interview the 2024 DEI
scholarship winners, two of them.
Their names are Ellen andTakiyah, and we get into, of
(02:34):
course, their full process story, but I just wanted to highlight
the work of Ariel, becauseEllen and Takiyah's story
wouldn't have been possiblewithout Ariel's, and so I really
wanted you all to meet her.
I hope you enjoy this episodeand tune in in two days, if
you're listening in real time,to hear more from the 2024 DEI
(02:55):
scholarship winners.
All right, let's get on to theepisode.
Welcome everyone to theAwakened Anesthetist.
Welcome, ariel, I'm so happy tohave you here and to shed some
light on the DEI scholarship andcommittee, so thanks for being
here.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Thank you for having me.
I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
You are so welcome.
I would love for you to startoff with some of your cultural
background, your upbringing, andthen we can get into how you
found out about the CAAprofession.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Sure, my name is Arielle Kinney-Fullbellion.
I am a CAA.
I practice in Milwaukee, Istarted.
So me personally, I am biracial, so my dad is African-American
or black and then my mom iswhite.
So I feel as though, like Ialready have a pretty good mix
(03:48):
in the world, having a good ideaof different aspects of
diversity, which helped.
And then I grew up inCalifornia, which I think is
like the biggest cultural saladbowl in the United States, so I
had a good idea of diversity inthat sense too.
But it helps to have an outsideperspective.
So I've lived in a bunch ofdifferent places.
(04:11):
I have worn a lot of hats in myday I played collegiate
volleyball, so I've been anathlete.
I was Miss Tennessee, so I'vedone pageants oh my goodness.
Yeah, I did nuclear medicine.
I was a nuclear medicineengineer before, so I have like
an engineer background.
And then now I'm in anesthesia,so I have worn a lot of hats.
(04:33):
Wow, yeah, helps tremendously,I think, in just having a good
understanding, especially withour profession.
We're trying to grow, we'retrying to get our stamps out
there, we're trying to introduceourselves to a lot of different
people who don't have the sameprofessional background,
personal background.
So it's been very helpful.
Sometimes I thought it was alittle hard to find a seat in
(04:56):
the room when you don'tnecessarily have one block that
you specifically tie into, butnow I look at it in a completely
different way.
It's nice to be able to holdconversations with different
people with different aspects ofyour life.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
How did you hear about the profession?
What point along your journey?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
So I did my undergrad and then I did my postdoctoral
at Indiana University inIndianapolis, doctorate at
Indiana University inIndianapolis and they were just
starting to come out with theirprogram, their AA program, there
.
So I did nuclear medicineengineering there and I actually
went on to work in Knoxvilleand I just kept in contact with
(05:37):
the school and that was the veryfirst time that I had heard of
the profession at all.
So kept in contact.
They finished creating theirprogram, they had their initial
class and then I thought youknow, I think this is really
something I'm interested in, sodid my research and then it kind
of just fell into my lap.
I had no idea it was happening.
(05:59):
And then that's how I gotintroduced, dr Nakata, there at
Indiana University.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Very cool.
What class were you?
Were you the second or thirdclass?
Speaker 2 (06:10):
I actually went to MCW.
I ended up going to MCW.
Oh, really so you didn't go toIndiana.
I didn't go to Indiana.
I thought you know I've beenhere.
I know a lot of people atIndiana.
Again, the more hats you wear,the more people you know.
So I just kind of wanted tobroaden my horizon, especially
with anesthesia being kind of aclosed net, very small community
(06:32):
, so the more you know, the morepeople you know.
So I ended up going to MCW andI started in 2020.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
And so you graduated in last year 2023?
2022.
2022.
Okay, gotcha.
In last year 2023, 2022, 2022,okay, gotcha, yeah.
So you started school in 2020and you are now the current
chair of the DEI committee.
So give us a little bit ofbackground on that progression,
on when you were firstintroduced to the scholarship
yeah, it's actually a veryinteresting one.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Um, so they came out with the first scholarship in
2020.
And at that time I think weonly did they only did two, so
it was myself and another personwho ended up winning.
We didn't have a lot oftraction on it.
There wasn't a lot of publicity, no one knew because it was the
very first time.
So I actually again stumbledupon it.
(07:20):
I was in a meeting for the quadA and students trying to get
more involved and then they kindof in passing, mentioned it.
And then I saw, and then theyfinally published it on the
website and then I applied, wentthrough the normal process of
applying, doing the application,waiting.
You have to do a personalstatement and kind of work with
(07:41):
your program director, and theprogram director writes you a
letter of recommendation.
And at the time my programdirector was like oh well,
you're interested in somethinglike this.
You should just reach out tothem and see if there's anything
you can do.
Obviously, you're an applicant,so there probably won't be a
lot that you'll be able to do inthe meantime while you're
waiting, but it's something thatyou can at least dip your toe
in.
So that's what I ended up doing.
(08:03):
I reached out and I said hey,thank you for having the
scholarship.
It's going to be tremendous.
Help Like school is veryexpensive, especially when
you're like at a privateinstitute.
But I reached out and they wereexcited to talk to me.
They said we'll let you knowafter the results come out and
who wins.
I ended up being a winner,which was very exciting.
(08:23):
So then I just worked with themand I sat on the board for two
years while I was a student andI was the student co-chair and
then, once I graduated, he kindof just gave me the reins.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Really interesting and awesome for all the students
who are listening and want toget more involved.
There are so many newopportunities coming up through
the Quad A A lot.
Yes, it's an exciting time tobe motivated and to also create
your own path, so congrats toyou for doing that, yeah you are
.
You're welcome.
You're currently the DEI chairand that means that you are on
(09:00):
the selection committee for thisscholarship, for the DEI
scholarship.
Can you tell us a little bitabout the criteria that the
selection committee for thisscholarship, for the DEI
scholarship?
Can you tell us a little bitabout the criteria that the
selection committee is lookingfor for possible recipients?
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Yeah, so overall we will look at your involvement.
So obviously you want to makesure that you're a student.
You're going to be ananesthesia student.
You can be a current student,you can be coming in.
We'll ask that you have aletter of recommendation, either
from a program chair, if youare already in the program, or a
(09:33):
program director, if that's thetitle that they go by, or if
you're just coming in and you'rematriculating into the class.
Then you can have anyone whohas like an academic or a
personal understanding of yourcharacter and your morals.
And then after that we do lookat GPA.
We have a minimum GPArequirement and then we really
(09:53):
overall, we have a big picture,holistic approach to this,
because everyone is going tohave such a drastically
different story and adrastically different
application.
And so we'll have you write apersonal statement, give us a
little bit more about you, andthen we'll ask about your
extracurriculars and what you'vedone in anesthesia or just in
(10:16):
the aspect of diversifyingyourself or your community or
the anesthesia community.
Everything is completelyanonymous.
So our admin, jacob, does areally amazing job here.
He works very hard on all ofthese scholarships, especially
with the more that people knowabout, the more we get.
So he has a big job ofanonymizing all of these
(10:37):
applicants, but we think it'sextremely important.
I work at MCW.
I have firsthand experience.
I'm precepting some of thesestudents.
I don't want to have any typeof bias on any of them, so I
think that's a very, veryimportant aspect of what we do
for the DEI scholarship.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Very good.
Can you talk a little bit aboutthe goals of the DEI
scholarship, like what is ittrying to achieve or just the
committee in general?
Speaker 2 (11:05):
The goal is overall just to diversify our profession
, to shed light on the diversitythat already exists and to give
us a little bit us on the DEIside, not the applicant side of
what we're missing or what wecould do to kind of create this
well-rounded profession of ours.
Um, I think that the studentsand the applicants directly
(11:29):
reflect those that are out thereright now in the community.
As we grow in profession and aswe expand to different states
and different types ofcommunities.
I think that's just going toboom and expand.
So right now, that's ouroverall goal.
We want people to feel like,when they look at this
(11:49):
profession, when they go intothese hospitals or their clinics
or their outside communities,that this person looks like me,
that I'm not just looking at allthe people on the website and
I'm like, oh well, no one lookslike me for that picture.
You know, we want everyone tofeel like they have a place,
they have a voice and thatthey're accepted.
So that's really what the maingoal is.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Yes, this is like the story of the life of a CAA.
Is that progress to make?
The changes that we know arebest and know our essay are so
dang slow, yeah, which is whyit's hard to.
I think our volunteer hierarchycan sometimes be burned out
(12:33):
because there is suchincremental growth.
But that also means we need somany more volunteers to be
interested and excited aboutlending their bit of help,
because over the long haul thisdoes make a huge difference and
we've seen that play out inother types of legislation for
our profession.
So anyone out there listeningwho is at all interested in
(12:54):
diversity, equity and inclusion,we have a committee and we have
the committee chair, ariel.
I'll leave her email in theshow notes so that you can reach
out to her and to them.
And then, if there are anycurrent AA students or students
who have been accepted and areabout to start, how do they
apply for the scholarship?
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Yeah, it's actually very easy.
It used to be a lot morecomplicated, yeah.
So yeah, now they'll just go tothe anesthetistorg or the Quad
A website and we'll go to about,the about category, and it'll
receive a drop down list andthen from that drop down list
they'll be able to selectdiversity, scholarship, and that
(13:33):
will take them directly to thelink that they'll be able to
click to start to submit theirapplication.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
And they have through the middle of December 2024 to
apply to receive the scholarshipin.
Is it maybe March of 2025?
Speaker 2 (13:49):
it comes out Around that timeline, yep, so we'll do
it for the following semester,and then we'll reach out to you.
And then now which I reallylove it's like one of my
favorite things is, we will sendthe winners their obviously
like congratulations, you won.
And then we'll send them alittle bio, they'll send it back
to us and then we'll get topublish it on the website.
(14:11):
We'll get to publish it on thewebsite, we'll get to publish it
on Instagram, so that thepeople that we fell in love with
and we thought were great anddeserve the scholarship now we
get to share with the world andthe world gets to see how great
these candidates are too.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
And then I jump in there.
I'm like great, Let me havethem.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Can I have them, Can I borrow them?
Speaker 1 (14:32):
And I'm like yeah, take them, they deserve it.
Yeah, I'm so excited to talk toEllen and Takiyah here.
In just a few more moments I'mgoing to leave a link, also in
the show notes, for current CAAsor CAA adjacent people who are
listening to donate correct Tothe DEI scholarship Fund.
It's money that goes only tothat fund when you donate Very
(14:54):
specifically.
It's not used for anything elseand the scholarships are pulled
directly from that, correct,correct.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Yep.
The more people that know aboutit, the more people that know
there is a distinct link thatthey can give directly to the
diversity scholarship, the moremoney that we can give to these
students and the more help thatwe can do.
So I highly encourage all CAAsto A donate and B share.
Sometimes, even if you can'tdonate, say it's a little,
(15:21):
you're strapped or you just feellike I can't give, the share
button does so much more.
You'll see so many more people,people who are not even CAAs.
I've had donate to thescholarship.
So just sharing and getting theword out there is half the
battle.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Yeah, amazing.
Well, I'm happy to help withthat push.
So wonderful.
Thank you so much for being on.
Thank you for having me.
You are so welcome.
My final question is sort ofthe focus of season four and I'm
springing this on you.
I forgot to tell you I wantedto ask you this, but it's about
how would you classify being ahealthy and thriving CAA
(15:58):
personal health, having aneducation, keeping yourself
well-rounded and understanding,and then kind of giving back.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
One of my love languages is I like to give, I'm
a giver.
So that's how I feel fulfilled,so how I can give back to my
profession or how I can giveback to the students that I'm
precepting, that sort of thing.
So I think that that cuts intoit a lot.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Yeah, thank you so much for being here and I'm just
that goes into it a lot.
Yeah, I'm just thank you somuch for being here and I'm just
so supportive of all the workyou're doing and I see I see you
in the background doing itbecause, man, we need more
people like you.
So, thank you so much.
Thank you so much.
I hope you found that episodehelpful, especially if you are
planning on applying to the DEIscholarship for 2025 or beyond.
(16:52):
I will include all the linksthat Ariel mentioned in the show
notes, as well as some commonterms, so that everyone can be
on a level playing field herewhen we're talking about DEI and
this scholarship that'savailable.
What else?
I hope you all tune in in twodays to hear the 2024
(17:12):
scholarship winners talk abouttheir experience.
We get into some reallyimportant topics, some hard
conversations, and I think it'sa really valuable conversation
that everyone in this CAAcommunity can benefit from.
So tune in in two days to hearthat can follow me on instagram
at awakened anesthetist for somemore behind the scenes.
(17:34):
Also, in the link in bio oninstagram, I will have an easy
way to donate to the deischolarship and, of course, you
can subscribe to my newsletter.
You'll find a link to that inthe show notes.
You can join me once a monthfor Mindful Connections, which
is something I'm offering duringseason four of Awaken Anestis
(17:56):
podcast.
There's more information onthat in the show notes as well.
I think that's all I can tellyou.
Rate and review this podcast ifyou love it, and then, most
importantly, share this withsomeone in your CAA community
right now.
Tell them why they love it andlet's really blow up the
donations and fundraising forthe DEI Scholarship 2025.
(18:18):
All right, let's talk soon,y'all Having this one.
Have them on the podcast.
Have them on.
We love it.
What's your son's name?
Cozy, cozy, hi, cozy, hi, cozy.
You're on a podcast.
Say hi, hi, hi.
We will definitely keep that in.
(18:39):
Okay, I'll press stop record.
Okay, cozy, mommy's done.
Welcome to the Awakened Anesthetist podcast,
the first podcast to highlightthe CAA experience.
I'm your host, Mary Jean, andI've been a certified
anesthesiologist assistant forclose to two decades.
Throughout my journey andstruggles, I've searched for
guidance that includes my uniqueperspective as a CAA, At one of
(00:42):
my lowest one.
I encourage you to stick aroundand experience the power of
being in a community filled withvoices who sound like yours,
sharing experiences you neverbelieved possible.
I know you will find yourselfhere at the Awakened Anesthetist
Podcast.
Welcome in.
(01:03):
Hello Awakened Anesthetistcommunity.
This is your host, mary jean.
A little something differenthere.
I actually meant for this bitwith ariel, who you're about to
meet.
She is the current dei quad acommittee chair.
I meant for this to be aprecursor, like a little intro,
into what the DEI committee isand the DEI scholarship that
(01:27):
that committee has created andfunds and gives out every year.
But, like everyone else,arielle has her own story and
she is more than just the DEIcommittee chair, and I couldn't
help but ask her a couple morequestions and it turned into an
episode that I think is reallyworth highlighting the work that
Ariel does as the DEI committeechair and how she got involved
(01:51):
as a student and then sort ofmoved up through the ranks, and
she also shed some light on thehistory of the DEI scholarship,
as Ariel was the initial winnerin 2020 of that first ever
scholarship and now she is onthe committee that awards future
scholarships.
So I really wanted to giveArielle the time that she
(02:12):
deserves.
She's done so much great workwith this DEI subcommittee and
for the Quad A.
So consider Arielle's episode alittle precursor to the episode
that releases in a couple dayswhere I interview the 2024 DEI
scholarship winners, two of them.
Their names are Ellen andTakiyah, and we get into, of
(02:34):
course, their full process story, but I just wanted to highlight
the work of Ariel, becauseEllen and Takiyah's story
wouldn't have been possiblewithout Ariel's, and so I really
wanted you all to meet her.
I hope you enjoy this episodeand tune in in two days, if
you're listening in real time,to hear more from the 2024 DEI
(02:55):
scholarship winners.
All right, let's get on to theepisode.
Welcome everyone to theAwakened Anesthetist.
Welcome, ariel, I'm so happy tohave you here and to shed some
light on the DEI scholarship andcommittee, so thanks for being
here.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Thank you for having me.
I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
You are so welcome.
I would love for you to startoff with some of your cultural
background, your upbringing, andthen we can get into how you
found out about the CAAprofession.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Sure, my name is Arielle Kinney-Fullbellion.
I am a CAA.
I practice in Milwaukee, Istarted.
So me personally, I am biracial, so my dad is African-American
or black and then my mom iswhite.
So I feel as though, like Ialready have a pretty good mix
(03:48):
in the world, having a good ideaof different aspects of
diversity, which helped.
And then I grew up inCalifornia, which I think is
like the biggest cultural saladbowl in the United States, so I
had a good idea of diversity inthat sense too.
But it helps to have an outsideperspective.
So I've lived in a bunch ofdifferent places.
(04:11):
I have worn a lot of hats in myday I played collegiate
volleyball, so I've been anathlete.
I was Miss Tennessee, so I'vedone pageants oh my goodness.
Yeah, I did nuclear medicine.
I was a nuclear medicineengineer before, so I have like
an engineer background.
And then now I'm in anesthesia,so I have worn a lot of hats.
(04:33):
Wow, yeah, helps tremendously,I think, in just having a good
understanding, especially withour profession.
We're trying to grow, we'retrying to get our stamps out
there, we're trying to introduceourselves to a lot of different
people who don't have the sameprofessional background,
personal background.
So it's been very helpful.
Sometimes I thought it was alittle hard to find a seat in
(04:56):
the room when you don'tnecessarily have one block that
you specifically tie into, butnow I look at it in a completely
different way.
It's nice to be able to holdconversations with different
people with different aspects ofyour life.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
How did you hear about the profession?
What point along your journey?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
So I did my undergrad and then I did my postdoctoral
at Indiana University inIndianapolis, doctorate at
Indiana University inIndianapolis and they were just
starting to come out with theirprogram, their AA program, there
.
So I did nuclear medicineengineering there and I actually
went on to work in Knoxvilleand I just kept in contact with
(05:37):
the school and that was the veryfirst time that I had heard of
the profession at all.
So kept in contact.
They finished creating theirprogram, they had their initial
class and then I thought youknow, I think this is really
something I'm interested in, sodid my research and then it kind
of just fell into my lap.
I had no idea it was happening.
(05:59):
And then that's how I gotintroduced, dr Nakata, there at
Indiana University.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Very cool.
What class were you?
Were you the second or thirdclass?
Speaker 2 (06:10):
I actually went to MCW.
I ended up going to MCW.
Oh, really so you didn't go toIndiana.
I didn't go to Indiana.
I thought you know I've beenhere.
I know a lot of people atIndiana.
Again, the more hats you wear,the more people you know.
So I just kind of wanted tobroaden my horizon, especially
with anesthesia being kind of aclosed net, very small community
(06:32):
, so the more you know, the morepeople you know.
So I ended up going to MCW andI started in 2020.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
And so you graduated in last year 2023?
2022.
2022.
Okay, gotcha.
In last year 2023, 2022, 2022,okay, gotcha, yeah.
So you started school in 2020and you are now the current
chair of the DEI committee.
So give us a little bit ofbackground on that progression,
on when you were firstintroduced to the scholarship
yeah, it's actually a veryinteresting one.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Um, so they came out with the first scholarship in
2020.
And at that time I think weonly did they only did two, so
it was myself and another personwho ended up winning.
We didn't have a lot oftraction on it.
There wasn't a lot of publicity, no one knew because it was the
very first time.
So I actually again stumbledupon it.
(07:20):
I was in a meeting for the quadA and students trying to get
more involved and then they kindof in passing, mentioned it.
And then I saw, and then theyfinally published it on the
website and then I applied, wentthrough the normal process of
applying, doing the application,waiting.
You have to do a personalstatement and kind of work with
(07:41):
your program director, and theprogram director writes you a
letter of recommendation.
And at the time my programdirector was like oh well,
you're interested in somethinglike this.
You should just reach out tothem and see if there's anything
you can do.
Obviously, you're an applicant,so there probably won't be a
lot that you'll be able to do inthe meantime while you're
waiting, but it's something thatyou can at least dip your toe
in.
So that's what I ended up doing.
(08:03):
I reached out and I said hey,thank you for having the
scholarship.
It's going to be tremendous.
Help Like school is veryexpensive, especially when
you're like at a privateinstitute.
But I reached out and they wereexcited to talk to me.
They said we'll let you knowafter the results come out and
who wins.
I ended up being a winner,which was very exciting.
(08:23):
So then I just worked with themand I sat on the board for two
years while I was a student andI was the student co-chair and
then, once I graduated, he kindof just gave me the reins.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Really interesting and awesome for all the students
who are listening and want toget more involved.
There are so many newopportunities coming up through
the Quad A A lot.
Yes, it's an exciting time tobe motivated and to also create
your own path, so congrats toyou for doing that, yeah you are
.
You're welcome.
You're currently the DEI chairand that means that you are on
(09:00):
the selection committee for thisscholarship, for the DEI
scholarship.
Can you tell us a little bitabout the criteria that the
selection committee for thisscholarship, for the DEI
scholarship?
Can you tell us a little bitabout the criteria that the
selection committee is lookingfor for possible recipients?
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Yeah, so overall we will look at your involvement.
So obviously you want to makesure that you're a student.
You're going to be ananesthesia student.
You can be a current student,you can be coming in.
We'll ask that you have aletter of recommendation, either
from a program chair, if youare already in the program, or a
(09:33):
program director, if that's thetitle that they go by, or if
you're just coming in and you'rematriculating into the class.
Then you can have anyone whohas like an academic or a
personal understanding of yourcharacter and your morals.
And then after that we do lookat GPA.
We have a minimum GPArequirement and then we really
(09:53):
overall, we have a big picture,holistic approach to this,
because everyone is going tohave such a drastically
different story and adrastically different
application.
And so we'll have you write apersonal statement, give us a
little bit more about you, andthen we'll ask about your
extracurriculars and what you'vedone in anesthesia or just in
(10:16):
the aspect of diversifyingyourself or your community or
the anesthesia community.
Everything is completelyanonymous.
So our admin, jacob, does areally amazing job here.
He works very hard on all ofthese scholarships, especially
with the more that people knowabout, the more we get.
So he has a big job ofanonymizing all of these
(10:37):
applicants, but we think it'sextremely important.
I work at MCW.
I have firsthand experience.
I'm precepting some of thesestudents.
I don't want to have any typeof bias on any of them, so I
think that's a very, veryimportant aspect of what we do
for the DEI scholarship.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Very good.
Can you talk a little bit aboutthe goals of the DEI
scholarship, like what is ittrying to achieve or just the
committee in general?
Speaker 2 (11:05):
The goal is overall just to diversify our profession
, to shed light on the diversitythat already exists and to give
us a little bit us on the DEIside, not the applicant side of
what we're missing or what wecould do to kind of create this
well-rounded profession of ours.
Um, I think that the studentsand the applicants directly
(11:29):
reflect those that are out thereright now in the community.
As we grow in profession and aswe expand to different states
and different types ofcommunities.
I think that's just going toboom and expand.
So right now, that's ouroverall goal.
We want people to feel like,when they look at this
(11:49):
profession, when they go intothese hospitals or their clinics
or their outside communities,that this person looks like me,
that I'm not just looking at allthe people on the website and
I'm like, oh well, no one lookslike me for that picture.
You know, we want everyone tofeel like they have a place,
they have a voice and thatthey're accepted.
So that's really what the maingoal is.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Yes, this is like the story of the life of a CAA.
Is that progress to make?
The changes that we know arebest and know our essay are so
dang slow, yeah, which is whyit's hard to.
I think our volunteer hierarchycan sometimes be burned out
(12:33):
because there is suchincremental growth.
But that also means we need somany more volunteers to be
interested and excited aboutlending their bit of help,
because over the long haul thisdoes make a huge difference and
we've seen that play out inother types of legislation for
our profession.
So anyone out there listeningwho is at all interested in
(12:54):
diversity, equity and inclusion,we have a committee and we have
the committee chair, ariel.
I'll leave her email in theshow notes so that you can reach
out to her and to them.
And then, if there are anycurrent AA students or students
who have been accepted and areabout to start, how do they
apply for the scholarship?
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Yeah, it's actually very easy.
It used to be a lot morecomplicated, yeah.
So yeah, now they'll just go tothe anesthetistorg or the Quad
A website and we'll go to about,the about category, and it'll
receive a drop down list andthen from that drop down list
they'll be able to selectdiversity, scholarship, and that
(13:33):
will take them directly to thelink that they'll be able to
click to start to submit theirapplication.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
And they have through the middle of December 2024 to
apply to receive the scholarshipin.
Is it maybe March of 2025?
Speaker 2 (13:49):
it comes out Around that timeline, yep, so we'll do
it for the following semester,and then we'll reach out to you.
And then now which I reallylove it's like one of my
favorite things is, we will sendthe winners their obviously
like congratulations, you won.
And then we'll send them alittle bio, they'll send it back
to us and then we'll get topublish it on the website.
(14:11):
We'll get to publish it on thewebsite, we'll get to publish it
on Instagram, so that thepeople that we fell in love with
and we thought were great anddeserve the scholarship now we
get to share with the world andthe world gets to see how great
these candidates are too.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
And then I jump in there.
I'm like great, Let me havethem.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Can I have them, Can I borrow them?
Speaker 1 (14:32):
And I'm like yeah, take them, they deserve it.
Yeah, I'm so excited to talk toEllen and Takiyah here.
In just a few more moments I'mgoing to leave a link, also in
the show notes, for current CAAsor CAA adjacent people who are
listening to donate correct Tothe DEI scholarship Fund.
It's money that goes only tothat fund when you donate Very
(14:54):
specifically.
It's not used for anything elseand the scholarships are pulled
directly from that, correct,correct.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Yep.
The more people that know aboutit, the more people that know
there is a distinct link thatthey can give directly to the
diversity scholarship, the moremoney that we can give to these
students and the more help thatwe can do.
So I highly encourage all CAAsto A donate and B share.
Sometimes, even if you can'tdonate, say it's a little,
(15:21):
you're strapped or you just feellike I can't give, the share
button does so much more.
You'll see so many more people,people who are not even CAAs.
I've had donate to thescholarship.
So just sharing and getting theword out there is half the
battle.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Yeah, amazing.
Well, I'm happy to help withthat push.
So wonderful.
Thank you so much for being on.
Thank you for having me.
You are so welcome.
My final question is sort ofthe focus of season four and I'm
springing this on you.
I forgot to tell you I wantedto ask you this, but it's about
how would you classify being ahealthy and thriving CAA
(15:58):
personal health, having aneducation, keeping yourself
well-rounded and understanding,and then kind of giving back.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
One of my love languages is I like to give, I'm
a giver.
So that's how I feel fulfilled,so how I can give back to my
profession or how I can giveback to the students that I'm
precepting, that sort of thing.
So I think that that cuts intoit a lot.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Yeah, thank you so much for being here and I'm just
that goes into it a lot.
Yeah, I'm just thank you somuch for being here and I'm just
so supportive of all the workyou're doing and I see I see you
in the background doing itbecause, man, we need more
people like you.
So, thank you so much.
Thank you so much.
I hope you found that episodehelpful, especially if you are
planning on applying to the DEIscholarship for 2025 or beyond.
(16:52):
I will include all the linksthat Ariel mentioned in the show
notes, as well as some commonterms, so that everyone can be
on a level playing field herewhen we're talking about DEI and
this scholarship that'savailable.
What else?
I hope you all tune in in twodays to hear the 2024
(17:12):
scholarship winners talk abouttheir experience.
We get into some reallyimportant topics, some hard
conversations, and I think it'sa really valuable conversation
that everyone in this CAAcommunity can benefit from.
So tune in in two days to hearthat can follow me on instagram
at awakened anesthetist for somemore behind the scenes.
(17:34):
Also, in the link in bio oninstagram, I will have an easy
way to donate to the deischolarship and, of course, you
can subscribe to my newsletter.
You'll find a link to that inthe show notes.
You can join me once a monthfor Mindful Connections, which
is something I'm offering duringseason four of Awaken Anestis
(17:56):
podcast.
There's more information onthat in the show notes as well.
I think that's all I can tellyou.
Rate and review this podcast ifyou love it, and then, most
importantly, share this withsomeone in your CAA community
right now.
Tell them why they love it andlet's really blow up the
donations and fundraising forthe DEI Scholarship 2025.
(18:18):
All right, let's talk soon,y'all Having this one.
Have them on the podcast.
Have them on.
We love it.
What's your son's name?
Cozy, cozy, hi, cozy, hi, cozy.
You're on a podcast.
Say hi, hi, hi.
We will definitely keep that in.
(18:39):
Okay, I'll press stop record.
Okay, cozy, mommy's done.
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