By Darla Martin Tucker

“This is a nice view. You guys get to look at this everyday?” said academy student Christian Randall as he scanned the inland valley from a Sierra Towers dormitory entrance.

Randall, a junior at Greater Atlanta Adventist Academy, was among 22 students from 11 academies and high schools around the country who visited La Sierra University on July 7. The students are participants in the Minority Introduction to the Health Sciences, or MITHS, a three-week annual summer program for minority Seventh-day Adventist high school juniors.

The competitive program introduces teens to the rigors of college life and aims at furthering their interests in health sciences careers. The program is based at Loma Linda University and is the creation of LeRoy Reese, a physician and Loma Linda medical school associate dean of the Los Angeles program. MITHS celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. The Black Alumni of Loma Linda & La Sierra Universities, or BALL, the Loma Linda University School of Medicine and La Sierra University sponsor the program.

Students selected for MITHS spend three weeks experiencing Loma Linda sciences
courses, clinical courses and research. They meet professors and take workshops on time management and study skills. They visit La Sierra University and learn about its pre-professional programs in the medical sciences, its physics and biology programs and other offerings.

During their July 7 La Sierra campus visit, the MITHS students met with physics professors and with chemistry and biology professors in the Price Science Complex. They talked with Lee Greer, a biology professor heading a new DNA sequencing and genomics lab and with biology Professor Natasha Dean. They ended the day with a pool party at the Sierra Towers swimming pool.

Derek McCalla, a student from Greater Miami Adventist Academy with interests in biomedical engineering, visited the La Sierra campus last year and met with Bobby Brown, associate vice president for enrollment services. The tour on July 7 was his second visit. “This trip is the first time I’ve gotten to interact with students,” McCalla said. “Their perspective was nice. It showed me that La Sierra is a campus centered on spiritual well-being, but allows you to make choices. …There’s no fake Christian at La Sierra,” he said.

Essence Leftridge, a 17-year-old from Pine Forge Academy in Pine Forge, Pa., learned that students at La Sierra will not be left behind, she said. La Sierra’s leaders exuded confidence and “seemed to be really interested in making sure everybody is successful,” Leftridge said. While maintaining Adventist fundamentals, La Sierra makes certain students’ experiences are fun and interesting, she said.
 
Andrews Academy student Philip Giddings, age 16, learned that La Sierra gives students freedom to be individuals. He enjoyed touring the new science complex and liked the exposure to college life. Giddings is considering a career in nursing.

La Sierra alumna and board Trustee Shelia McLean initiated the La Sierra campus visits roughly eight years ago. McLean is also a member of the BALL committee. “It’s my way of doing what I can for enrollment as a board member,” she said.

MITHS brings the “cream of the crop of minority students in our academies and in high schools,” and exposes them to what La Sierra offers, said McLean. She operates Plan-It Life Inc., a Corona-based network of therapeutic homes for abused teens and provides the McLean Student Research Grant for La Sierra psychology students.

Prior to their departmental tour, the MITHS students ate lunch at La Sierra’s Dining Commons. They listened to short talks by President Randal Wisbey, Center for Student Academic Success Assistant Director Lynneth Solis-Berdugo, La Sierra’s Black Student Association President Tiffany Ellis, Dean and Brown.

During his talk welcoming students to the university, Wisbey presented a donation to Reese in support of the MITHS program. He described the university’s long history, its offerings, initiatives and perspectives. He described the Path of the Just, an ongoing project crossing the outdoor concourse comprised of gardens shaped as continents, cascading fountains, patios and trees. In various spaces, the path aims to recognize local and international humanitarian heroes, including India’s Mother Teresa and South Africa’s Bishop Desmond Tutu. Wisbey expressed his hope that the MITHS students will one day aspire to such greatness and become like those honored on the university’s campus.

 “This place, La Sierra, will help you figure out who you are,” Brown said during a short address on enrollment procedures. He told the students their opportunities through MITHS and presence at La Sierra were the result of Reese’s vision.

Reese implemented the MITHS program in 1999. “I felt if we could reach back to the earlier part of their education, we could give them the tools to make it easier to prepare for professional education and to do better once they get in,” he said.

Application criteria for the MITHS program includes possession of an overall grade point average of at least 3.5, high academic performance in science and math courses, a good citizenship record, participation in leadership, school activities and community service, and a strong interest in a health sciences career.

A selection committee determines MITHS participants. Reese and other program leaders market MITHS by visiting high schools and academies and through a posting on the Loma Linda University Web site.

PR Contact: Larry Becker
Executive Director of University Relations
La Sierra University
Riverside, California
951.785.2460 (voice)