Headshot of U N E student Chase Walter

Chase Walter ’22

Medical Biology (Medical Sciences)

Exceptional Teaching and Learning

I’ve met some really amazing people through the Med Bio program at ÐÂÏã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê×ÊÁÏ. So many of my peers are vastly intelligent and are more than willing to study together. I had some excellent professors, particularly ones that would stay well after class with me to go over questions about what we were discussing. [My professors] were very excited to further my education in ways beyond the scope of what is typically required.

Hands-On Learning

[This past summer], I’ve been an intern at the Portland Spurwink Crisis Center. The idea of the office is that if someone’s in a mental health crisis, they can come into our facility.

Primarily I am involved with shadowing psychiatric Nurse Practitioners (NP) that work in the crisis center. With them, I ask questions directly to clients to develop trust, and hopefully, get them the necessary medications and resources. Additionally, the psych NP and I will discuss appropriate medication applications, distinctions in psychiatric diagnoses, and whatever questions I might have.

I started doing independent psychiatric evaluations as my internship progressed. That was a big step for both my confidence in the field and for expanding my knowledge. I think that's been really big for my own personal development as someone who is thinking about going into psychiatry potentially.

I really appreciate the opportunities that ÐÂÏã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê×ÊÁÏ allows for students to participate in internships. I'm getting a lot out of this. It's an amazing opportunity for me and I'm learning so much, it's been amazing.

Welcoming Community

I actually transferred to ÐÂÏã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê×ÊÁÏ my junior year and that was one of the smartest decisions I’ve ever made. ÐÂÏã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê×ÊÁÏ has allowed me to grow much more as a person. As much as I would love to give myself all that credit, it’s definitely my peers and my professors that helped foster my growth at ÐÂÏã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê×ÊÁÏ.

As a transfer student and being the new kid, it’s always kind of intimidating. But I didn’t experience anything like that. I just immediately meshed into everything with ÐÂÏã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê×ÊÁÏ’s great community and environment.