by 
One of my earliest memories is going to the Presbyterian church a few blocks from my grandmother’s house. Each summer they hosted a summer enrichment program for elementary age students in the neighborhood. Their goal was to bridge the gap for inner city kids that may have been deficient in reading or math during the year. As the child of a then librarian and a grandmother who found a teachable moment in almost anything, I was already an avid reader. I greatly enjoyed the access to new books. More so, it set the stage for me to spend the rest of my summers looking for ways to learn as much as possible as I prepared for the upcoming school year. Some summers, I even participated in three programs. I wanted to be a doctor… I was down for whatever it took. Some programs even bled over into the school year, with weekend meetings or weekday check-ins. Freshmen year, I started my favorite program of all time, hands-down, no contest. Healthwise. Part of a statewide initiative to expose students from vulnerable populations to careers in the health fields, the program targeted students from underserved and rural communities.
Healthwise consisted of two parts: 1) didactic classes in science and math, and 2) direct exposure to health careers via speakers, field trips and hands-on experiences. The bulk of our time was spent at Central High School in downtown Louisville for 4 weeks over the summer. A historically black high school since the era of segregation that produced great alumni like Muhammad Ali, Lyman T Johnson, Darryl Owens and Maurice Rabb conveyed an atmosphere of confidence and success. At the time, those traits were not often mirrored other places in the community, in popular media, or in the news.
Ms. DeBerry, the director of the program, who just recently retired, is a strong student advocate always encouraging each of us to be our personal best. My goal of taking Calculus and Anatomy and Physiology as senior in high school was met with a little bit of a side eye by some of my peers. Healthwise prepared us for the standard curriculum. However, Ms. DeBerry found someone to tutor me individually. She never told me no, she never told me I was striving for too much.
This summer, I returned to Healthwise as a speaker. I was just as excited to go as I was in high school. I was also nervous. I hoped that the students would be interested in what I had to say. I hoped that they found Healthwise as wonderful of an experience as I did. Ms. DeBerry greeted me with a hug and I couldn’t believe 20 years had passed. Though the program is now housed at the University of Louisville, the energy in the room was what I remembered. Young people eager to do great things. I hope that these students too will be proud, vocal and enthusiastic supporters of the pipeline.
