Editor's note: Intern Spotlight is a Ball State Daily News series profiling Ball State students and their summer internships. If you have any suggestions as to who we should feature next, send an email to editor@bsudailynews.com.
Devaugn Jones found his interest in medicine when he was 12 years old, holding his mother’s hand in the delivery room.
The Ball State junior pre-med major watched in awe as seven doctors worked together in the delivery room, communicating and calming down guests as his mother gave birth to his youngest sister.
“From the beginning of the whole experience, I was so intrigued,” Jones said. “There were so many people in the room, but they all had a role and they all performed it seamlessly.”
But it wasn’t until this summer where Jones had his first real experience in medicine during his internship at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons.
Jones was one of 40 students selected out of more than 3,000 applicants in the program.
“From the jump, they let us know that this [internship] was very selective and it was not a game,” Jones said.
As part of the program, Jones has been participating in clinical rotations, shadowing doctors, watching surgeries, treating patients and taking courses at the Ivy League school.
He first heard of the program from Clare Chatot, interim associate dean of the college of sciences and humanities, who sent out the application in an email.
Jones didn’t know what to expect, but he took his time with the application, wrote his personal statement and hoped for the best. After applying last October, Jones heard that he was selected into the program in March, becoming the first Ball State student ever selected.
“I was ecstatic,” Jones said. “Being in New York City, there’s not many people who know about Indiana, let alone the university itself. I definitely wanted to represent and leave a positive taste in the mouth of the people in this program.”
At first Jones had his doubts, but those quickly went away after he arrived in New York for the summer.
“It went from ‘oh my gosh I got in,’ to ‘it’s go time,’” Jones said. “I was definitely nervous when it first started because I was in this room with all of these incredibly intelligent individuals from all over the country. There were even people from outside the country.”
After going through the program, Jones no longer has those same doubts.
As he enters his junior year at Ball State he’s not only more confident in his abilities, but certain that this is what he wants to do for the rest of his life.
“This program solidified within me that all of the doubts that I had, in regard to not having the absolute straight A’s or not being the most involved person in medicine up until this point,” Jones said. “Even the most successful person has doubts … Now, I thought that I could do this.”
He has two more years left in his sociology degree before entering med school, and from there he wants to become an obstetrician/gynecologist, better known in the medical field as an OB/GYN, and start his own practice in the future.
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