The Pre-Health Club’s mission is to help prepare students for their future while allowing them to practice healthcare in the present.

Seattle Pacific University’s Pre-Health Club is an organization on campus comprised of students pursuing a healthcare career. Members can use the group’s resources to plan their future and organize health-related events and activities to help the community. 

This club is geared towards students interested in a future in health and medicine, and they create their activities accordingly. As third-year physiology student and Pre-Health Club Co-President Marie Hafez explained, the club and its members have various opportunities they put together throughout the year.

“We like to have study nights at least twice a quarter before midterms or finals, and that’s a great opportunity for students to get to ask each other questions or just have a nice environment to study,” Hafex said. “This quarter, we had three SPU alumni working in healthcare come talk to students about their jobs and in a week, I am having a pediatric neurologist from Seattle Children’s talk to the students.”

The Pre-Health Club also has events that allow members to prepare for their future careers and all students to give back to the community. Fourth-year physiology student and Pre-Health Club Co-President Sara Hartman explained what these events entail for participants.

“Generally, the Pre-Health Club does small events, mostly focused on assisting SPU’s pre-health students in their future career paths, resulting in more limited turnouts as far as the SPU student body goes,” Hartman said. “However, this year, on May 10, we are hosting an event open to all SPU students, which is the American Red Cross Blood Drive. This is a great opportunity to aid the ongoing blood shortage that’s plaguing the healthcare field.”

The blood drive is undoubtedly one of the Pre-Health Club’s largest yearly events, and the club leaders hope that people from all corners of the SPU community will sign up. As fourth-year applied human biology student and Pre-Health Club Vice President Stacey Bondarchuk explained, the fact that participating in the event can literally save lives has led to many eager volunteers.

“The blood drive is a great opportunity for other students who are not in the biology or chemistry department to give back to the community if they are able to give blood, and help save someone that’s in need,” Bondarchuk said. “I already know several people outside of students in healthcare that are already signed up and plenty of faculty are signed up, as well.”

The work that the Pre-Health Club does for not just SPU but Seattle as a whole is indispensable. The club prepares a whole generation of healthcare professionals for their future through hands-on experience. Although the group is catered to those who plan to enter the medical field, as Hafez explained, there are still opportunities for anyone interested.

“Truthfully, any of our events, especially the study nights, blood drives, and guest speakers, are great events that other students outside of the healthcare majors can come join,” Hafez said. “We have had some students from other majors join us on the study nights to enjoy some pizza while talking to others and learning from one another. The more, the merrier.”