Campus Connection: Early Start Benefits Medical Career Students

Looking back, the Altura, Minnesota native says he doesn’t regret it. The experience helped prepare him and propel him towards a successful undergraduate experience. And it helped him get into a competitive cancer research program at South Dakota State University.

Schell was dual-enrolled at Saint Mary’s through Minnesota’s Post-Secondary Enrollment Options Program. The PSEO program enables motivated high school juniors and seniors to earn college credit while meeting high school graduation requirements.

Growing up as the son of a veterinarian, Schell always gravitated towards the medical field. Very early on, however, he realized that veterinary science was not for him. “I loved the human aspect of medicine,” he said. “And having a love for STEM and chemistry, I really knew medical school would be my best course of action.”

With the lofty goal of medical school, Schell soon began looking for ways to achieve his goal. The obvious option was Minnesota’s PSEO program.

“I didn’t find myself challenged in my high school classes, so I started looking for options where I could take on whatever challenge I wanted while better preparing myself for a future career,” he said. declared.

Having had a brother who enrolled at Saint Mary’s through the PSEO program and knowing the “rigor and challenge” of his academic offerings, Schell said knowing where to enroll was an easy decision. At Saint Mary’s, Schell was able to take care of the majority of her general education requirements like English and history, while being able to dive headfirst into entry-level biology and chemistry classes. The opportunity to take these courses strengthened him in his ability to succeed as a full-time undergraduate student.

Now a freshman at South Dakota State University, Schell studies biochemistry, premedicine, and psychology, and as a freshman was selected to participate in research on campus, which he says he could not have accomplished without his experience in the PSEO program at Saint Mary’s.

“Dr. Scott Carnahan, my chemistry teacher (at Saint Mary’s), prepared me for my classes like organic and analytical chemistry and really helped me land a research position that I’m working with right now,” he said “Research is very much focused on the field of biology, so my classes (at PSEO college) with Dr Matthew Rowley really helped me get a fundamental understanding of what I’m working on. “

Currently, Schell and his team are studying how cancer cells respond to drugs synthesized by another lab on campus.

“It’s really a great job we’re doing,” he said. “And as soon as the research comes out, I think it will really help a lot in the direction we can take in the future when it comes to the fight against cancer, because every little piece of information is essential.”

Schell says his time at Saint Mary’s also helped him outside of the classroom and the research lab.

“My experience at Saint Mary’s has helped me balance classes and extracurricular activities. And learning that experience early on helped me get ahead of my classes at the start of the semester,” he said. “And because Saint Mary’s has such a diverse community, I’ve been able to work with a variety of people and have been able to understand diverse perspectives, while being able to grow and develop my own perspectives.”

Schell encourages anyone considering the PESO program to pursue it.

“I believe anyone who goes through the program can have the same positive experience I did,” he said.