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Inaugural day ceremonies a special moment for Class of 2019

August 20, 2015 — 

110 med students were inaugurated into the Faculty of Health Sciences during the annual “white coat” ceremony held at the University of Manitoba’s Bannatyne Campus on Wednesday, August 19.

The Class of 2019 is comprised of 10 self-declared Aboriginal students, four French-speaking bilingual students, and 22 students with rural attributes (which includes rural roots, rural work experience or rural volunteer experience). This year, 96 per cent of the 110 students are Manitobans.

CBC News shared the unique story of Anna Schwartz, who credits herself as taking an “unusual path” to medicine. The mother of six worked as an occupational therapist for eight years before opting to embark on a career in medicine. 

“I’m feeling very excited but also very humbled because it’s been a very long road and I know that I’m very lucky to be here,” Schwartz told CBC News before the ceremony.

“Being young and naive, I thought I’d stay home a couple of years, then go to med school. Well as I discovered, it’s not quite as quick and easy with raising children, so we decided to have all of our children first, and for me to pick a less-demanding profession such as occupational therapy that I could do part time. Now I’m ready,” Schwartz said.

The annual Inaugural Day exercises include the symbolic tradition of students putting on their white coat for the very first time and taking a vow to practice ethical medicine throughout their education and careers by reciting the Hippocratic Oath.

Hippocratic Oath #UMWhiteCoat #umorientation #umanitoba A photo posted by UM Faculty of Health Sciences (@um_medicine) on

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