SARA MAY

1. What do you enjoy about your job?

 I love the unpredictability, the variety, the immense rewards of making people feel better, the teaching both with my patients and my students, the degree to which I also learn from my patients and my students, the challenges and pressures of treating complex and critically ill patients, the way in which having to know a little about a lot rather than a lot about a little is a perfect compliment to my undiagnosed ADD, learning new things and meeting new people every day. My most rewarding experiences have been as an emergency physician in the field of international disaster relief in both Haiti and in the Philippines following Typhoon Haiyan, where we worked in extremely austere environments, doing our best to help those whose lives had been disrupted and destroyed by a natural disaster. Our ability to make a difference was basically reduced to what we could carry in on our backs, and what use we could make of our heads and our hands. There were many moments when I reflected back upon a challenging moment on an ALC out of camp trip or leading AMT and those memories directly informed my work under those conditions and my ability to remain positive and energized moving forward. 

 

2. What led you to pursue your career path?

 Two influences led me to pursue a career in medicine: Jean and Sue McMullan. Jean and Sue, soon after informing me that I was going to lead AMT XVII, also informed me of a new requirement for AMT leaders—procuring a Wilderness EMT certification—which they facilitated for Peter Martin and me at the SOLO School of Wilderness Medicine in North Conway, NH. I think Peter and I were about three hours into this course when I realized, with 100% certainty, that I wanted to practice medicine. I don’t think this thought would have ever occurred to me had I not had the confidence-building experiences of ALC to inform my approach to life. Historically, I was well aware that I was NOT a terrifically skilled student of such doctorly subjects as math and science (understatement), but I also knew that I was genuinely inspired and fascinated by the study of medicine, and in spite of my less than stellar performance in afore-noted subjects, I had learned from my experiences at ALC that if I cared enough about something, it was worth a try, and if I had the courage to try, it was worth trying my hardest, and if I tried my hardest, I might be able to make it happen. A few years later, I was accepted at medical school. 

 

3. What are your favorite memories of ALC? 

Laughter. With Tent 22 (Margi Lear, Susie Thomas, Hannah Saxe, Pam Lloyd) with fellow campers, with co-CT’s (Nicole Pasquini, Theresa Mainardi, Amy Clowes, Kim Thornton, Jamey Jousan), with fellow counselors (Karen Black —- that summer I spent under her tutelage “teaching” riding...) and Bungalows (oh GEEZ—Sue Stocker McMullan, Ginny Biggar, Jennie & Gretchen Peter, Cynthia White). Those canoe trips as a camper with Helen Selle rank up among the best memories of my life! My truly magical summer leading the extraordinary people of AMT XVII—one of the best summers EVER, to this day! (John Brooks, Maggie Williams, Kate Abernathy, Will Stevenson, Ben Willauer, Mary Frekko, Cassie Slane, Beth Fry, Andy May, Tina Eide, Peter Martin). Camp in words: singing, swimming, skinny-dipping, sweating, competing, winning, learning, losing, laughing, Beach Day, counselor hunt (Helen Selle in the lake under lily pads breathing through a STRAW?!)

 

4. Did you gain anything at camp that you use today? 

(In addition to Anne Leveritt’s J-stroke and Janet Montgomery’s forehand…) Camp provided me with a wonderfully synergistic combination of challenges, adventures, and friendships that gave me the sense of self to explore the world around me with curiosity and excitement…Camp gave me a safe and accepting place to develop a love of, rather than a fear of, new and challenging experiences. The ALC component of those challenges that I carry with me to this day was learning that, as one journeys through life, the secret to “success” must include laughter and friendship. That if at first you DON’T succeed (which most of us don’t), it’s okay to keep trying, and that the best part of any challenge is the rising to meet it, regardless of the final outcome.