Mary Engle enjoys problem-solving and thinking on her feet.
She’s also passionate about helping others.
It’s what led the Kalamazoo native to pursue EMT training at Kalamazoo Valley Community College after high school and, ultimately, what led her to become a licensed paramedic nearly five years ago.
Assessing patients, making quick decisions, and providing emotional support in times of distress is where she thrives. That passion for service, coupled with strong ties to Kalamazoo, has led Mary to pursue medical school at WMU Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine (WMed).
“I want to be able to do more for my patients,” Mary said. “As a medic, we pick them up, treat them as best we can with our relatively limited resources, and then drop them off at the hospital, oftentimes without knowing what happens to them. I want to be more involved. I want to be able to do more for them.”
As a first-year medical student at WMed, a typical day for Mary begins at 6:45 a.m. She wakes up, eats breakfast – usually overnight oats, but her new favorite concoction is toast with pesto, topped with an egg – makes coffee and is out the door by 7:45 a.m., embarking on the short walk from her downtown Kalamazoo apartment to the W.E. Upjohn M.D. Campus.
On campus by 8 a.m., Mary finds a comfortable spot on the second floor to begin studying. She spends the next few hours reviewing digital flash cards and watching a handful of educational videos related to current lecture topics.
Shortly before noon, Mary steps out for some fresh air, walking back to her apartment for lunch. By 1 p.m., she’s back on campus, though her afternoons vary depending on the day of the week.
- 6:45 a.m. – Wake Up, Make Breakfast and Coffee
- 7:45 a.m. – Walk to Campus
- 8 a.m. – Study Time
- 11:45 a.m. – Walk Home, Eat Lunch
- 1:00 p.m. – Anatomy Lab, Clinical Skills, or Principles of Medicine
- 5 p.m. – Watch/Review Lectures, Create New Digital Flash Cards
- 7 p.m. – Wrap up Studying, Walk Home
- 7:15 p.m. – Make Dinner
- 8 p.m. – Work Out
- 9:15 p.m. – Tidy up Apartment, Make Protein Smoothie, Watch TV or Read, Shower
- 10:30 p.m. – Bedtime
A Day in the Life of M1 Mary Engle
On Mondays, Mary participates in Clinical Skills where she learns and practices the skills physicians use every day including communication and interpersonal skills, teamwork, history taking, and physical examinations. Sessions are held in the Simulation Center at the W.E. Upjohn M.D. Campus with high-fidelity patient simulators in the virtual hospital and standardized patients in the virtual clinic.
“The standardized patients are incredibly helpful,” Mary said. “It’s always interesting to hear their feedback on how you could do things differently. It’s very beneficial in that regard.”
On varying Tuesdays and Wednesdays, Mary attends Principles of Medicine. The course covers the socioeconomic aspects of medicine, including professionalism, leadership, ethics, advocacy, patient safety, health policy, healthcare law, research design, epidemiology, and more.
On Thursdays, she heads up to the seventh floor of the W.E. Upjohn M.D. Campus for Anatomy Lab. Each session kicks off with a quiz, followed by walk throughs of different radiology cases led by WMed faculty.
From there, Mary and her classmates break off into groups and head into the Gross Anatomy lab where they are tasked with identifying different structures on prosected cadavers.
By 5 p.m., Mary is back in her preferred study spot on the second floor. While some of her classmates attend lectures in the mornings, Mary prefers to watch the lectures on her own time in the late afternoons, often playing the lectures at 2x speed.
After watching that day’s lectures and creating/reviewing new flash cards over the course of a few hours, Mary’s day at the W.E. Upjohn M.D. Campus is a wrap.
Shortly after 7 p.m., she’s back in her apartment making dinner. Afterward, at least a few days each week, Mary heads to the gym to work out for 60-90 minutes.
“Working out is definitely a stress reliever for me,” Mary said. “I try to go a few days each week. It calms my mind down.”
Back home shortly after 9 p.m., Mary makes a protein smoothie while tidying up her apartment. She quickly glances over a few more flash cards before taking a shower.
Mary often wraps up her day reading a good book or watching a quick TV show before going to bed around 10:30 p.m.
Outside of her daily course schedule, Mary participates in a handful of student interest groups at WMed, including the Emergency Medicine Interest Group, Orthopaedic Surgery Interest Group, and the volleyball and pickleball interest groups.
At least two weekends a month, Mary is on shift as a paramedic for Life EMS in Kalamazoo County. She also remains involved at Kalamazoo Valley Community College, assisting with their EMT and paramedic labs.
“Being able to apply what I’m learning in medical school to my work as a medic has been great,” Mary said. “Having a better understanding of body systems and how they work together, that allows me to more effectively communicate with patients and to better explain things.”
Reflecting on her experience so far, Mary said she’s very happy to be at WMed.
“I’ve grown very close with so many of my classmates,” she said. “It’s such a supportive environment here. Everyone is so eager to help.”