Chapters

• 0:00 Who is Jake Cassidy? 
• 1:35 How Jake found out about Quinnipiac Entry Level Masters Physician Assistant Program 
• 2:49 What was the application process like and requirements for the Entry Level Masters Physician Assistant Program? 
• 4:02 How Jake found his place at Quinnipiac 
• 5:39 Jake's favorite classes that help prepare him for a career as a Physician Assistant  
• 7:06 How Jake has become a resource for other students 
• 9:32 How have all Jake's experiences prepared him for his future career? 
• 10:15 Advice for students

Transcript

Joel Vanner: Hello, and welcome to ”Who Are You?,” The Bobcats you know the stories you don't. I'm your host Joel Vanner inside the podcast studio at Quinnipiac University's School of Communications, and I'm joined today by my guest Jake Cassidy. Jake, welcome to the show. 
 
Jake Cassidy: Hey, Joel, thank you so much for having me. I'm very grateful to be here, and let's get the show on rolling. 
 
Joel Vanner: Alright. I'm happy you're happy to jump right in. Have you seen an episode of our show before?  
 
Jake Cassidy: I have not. 
 
Joel Vanner: Okay. Well, I asked my guest the same first question, and that question to you is, who are you? 
 
Jake Cassidy: My name is Jake Cassidy, as has previously mentioned. And I am a senior in the Entry Level Masters Physician Assistant program from Montville, New Jersey. I'm involved in many facets on campus, such as Qthon as the campus relations co chair, as well as a resident assistant, peer catalyst, and I'm a member of a fraternity here. 
 
Joel Vanner: Well, awesome involvements, and we'll get to your time at Quinnipiac in just a minute. But I want to step back in time, too, Jake, growing up. What were you interested in, and how did you decide on medicine? 
 
Jake Cassidy: Growing up, I loved reading, especially science books, as well as those national geographic fun fact books that were very science oriented, as well as watching Brain Pop videos with Tim and Moby, they truly taught me a lot about the science realm.  
 
Joel Vanner: They were part of my education as well. Going back there. 
 
Jake Cassidy: Yeah, and so my mom always wanted my brother and I to have the best foot forward, and she encouraged both of us to go into the sciences. My brother is currently a physical therapist, and she inspired me to pick up something in medicine, as well. So after doing my own research, I came to finding Quinnipiac University as a great program for physician assistant, which was the ultimate branch of medicine that I was interested in. I applied, which was a direct entry program where you can get into the graduate program straight from high school. It's a four plus 27 months program, where four years in undergraduate and 27 months in the graduate side of the program. 
 
Joel Vanner: So that's the Entry Level Masters Physician Assistant program, ELMPA, for sure. 
 
 Jake Cassidy: Yes, ELMPA. 
 
Joel Vanner: So you applied right into that program right out of high school, and you have a guaranteed spot in graduate school when you complete your undergraduate experience? 
 
Jake Cassidy: Yeah, absolutely. You have a guaranteed spot as long as you maintain 1,000 direct patient contact hours getting those jobs such as being an EMT or physical therapy aid in my case, as well as doing community service hours, having leadership hours, and having what's called interprofessional health events hours where you work with nursing students, OT students, PT students to do a task together and work together, which is what you as a healthcare provider will be doing in the future. 
 
Joel Vanner: And you get all of those experiences through your academic time here at Quinnipiac for your graduate studies. What was it like applying? It's a long program. Sounds like there's a lot involved. What is it like applying? I mean, you're in high school. You have to kind of figure out your whole life, right at that point. What was it like applying into a program like that? What interested you in this program here at Quinnipiac? 
 
Jake Cassidy: I loved the having a seat aspect of it. Having that guaranteed spot as long as you maintain those criteria, that really incentivized me for going. But I also loved the campus environment that Quinnipiac had, as well as the size of campus. It really was something that I wanted to get acclimated with. I am someone who doesn't want to have too big of a campus where I don't really know as many people, but too small of a campus where I can't really branch out. That happy medium is what I like, and Quinnipiac had that happy medium, and I'm just glad that I applied, and I found that happy medium. 
 
Joel Vanner: And we have three beautiful campuses, our Mount Carmel campus with the South Quad. North Haven has schools of Medicine, Nursing, Health Science, Law, and Education, and then our York Hill campus, as well. So it's not too big and it's not too small, like you just said.  
 
Jake Cassidy: Yes. 
 
Joel Vanner: In your program, are there other requirements that you must maintain, like, a grade point average or other considerations those who want to apply in should keep in mind. 
 
Jake Cassidy: Yes, you need a 3.2 minimum grade point average in order to keep your seat in the graduate program. 
 
Joel Vanner: So acclimating to college, keeping up that GPA, outside involvements, how did you find your place here at Quinnipiac? What did you do knowing you have this heavy academic load that you have to start to manage as well? 
 
Jake Cassidy: I honestly relied on my peers a lot. We formed study groups early on, and that's really been instrumental in helping us acclimate to campus and the harsh demands that the program has, those anatomies, those organic chemistries, those biochemistries, they are tough if you if you stick it out by yourself. But with peers, it's very manageable and very helpful, and you might learn something new that you didn't even study and didn't even think to study because you have someone else working with you. 
 
Joel Vanner: So relying on your peers to help you get acclimated to the culture here at Quinnipiac in the campus, are there any faculty members that have helped you in an academic sense, just get ahold of your studies and maybe give you good study habits or other pointers to keep in mind? 
 
Jake Cassidy: Yeah, that's absolutely the case. My advisor, Professor Laurie Seeger, has been instrumental in having us care for ourselves and the mental aspect and having us embrace our seat. As long as we maintain those criteria, there's no need for us to go out of our way to stress ourselves out. I would also like to shout out my microbiology in Pathomicrobiology Professor Dr. Eggers for being an instrumental instructor and helping me learn not only about diseases and specific microbes, but just being an overall standout professor and very passionate about the subject he teaches. 
 
Joel Vanner: Our faculty here are awesome and often reachable, even outside of their office hours and class sizes. Everything else is just a bonus. Is there a specific class that you've enjoyed the most so far in your program? What class was it, and what did you enjoy most about it? 
 
Jake Cassidy: I really enjoyed this last class I took in the fall, PY401. It taught us the basics of patient treatment. As well as how to handle difficult scenarios as a PA, it gives us more preparation into the PA school realm. 
 
Joel Vanner: Real world experience. 
 
Jake Cassidy: Exactly. 
 
Joel Vanner: Now before you go out in the real world. 
 
Jake Cassidy: Exactly, that real world experience, as well as PY 397. It's a class we take our sophomore year where we shadow PAs. I was lucky enough to shadow someone in cardiology, as well as someone in neurology. And all we basically do is we watch and see what they do and make sure that, A, we love the PA program, which I certainly did because I'm still here. And, B, learn something new. My neurology PA showed me MRIs of previous patients and helped me understand what was going on, as well as my cardiology PA, helped me observe stress test, and, EKGs on a monitor. >>Where was your shadowing experience? >>Yes, the cardiology PA was at the hospital Central Connecticut while the neurology PA was at Mid State Medical Center. 
 
Joel Vanner: And were there resources on campus that helped place you in those spaces or were you up to figure that out? What was the support like for that? 
 
Jake Cassidy: Our advisor was the one that placed us into those specific realms for each PA. 
 
Joel Vanner: So you have the support on the academic side. You shouted out your advisor and Dr. Eggers, as well. You are a support for students here at Quinnipiac in your role on campus involvement as a resident assistant. Tell us a little bit about how you got involved in being an RA and kind of how that has kind of come full circle for your college experience just meeting people and helping people. 
 
Jake Cassidy: Absolutely. I was inspired by my brother to be an RA. He was an RA at the institution he attended, and having him be a mentor for students really inspired me to do the same. So I applied to be a resident assistant, also because of my RA, Mike Cunningham, who probably isn't watching this, but hopefully will at some point. And I applied to the role. Went through the interview process, and I got the position as a first year RA in the Commons at first. And for the last two years, I have been an RA in the Grove, the new building for the first and second year of the Buildings commission. >>What's your favorite event that you've held so far? >>We've held an event called the Battle of the Bridge. What it is is it's basically a fun game night or game day with the residents of the Commons, as well as the residents of the Grove. There are popcorn machines, lawn games, as well as a dunk tank where pro staff as well as RAs could sit there and have residents try their hand of having them dunked. I was dunked a few times. 
 
Joel Vanner: You were in the dunk tank. 
 
Jake Cassidy: Yeah. 
 
Joel Vanner: Put Jake and the dunk tank. 
 
Jake Cassidy: Yeah.  
 
Joel Vanner: Another involvement, you're also involved in Qthon the Quinnipiac University Children's Miracle Network Dance Marathon Dance Marathon, right? What roles did you hold in that organization? 
 
Jake Cassidy: At first, I was a team captain for my fraternity, and we've raised over $2,000 when I was a team captain, and we had two miracle children in the past, which has been an incredible opportunity for us as an organization, as well as for me as a future healthcare provider. 
 
Joel Vanner: And a miracle, tell us what a miracle child is? 
 
Jake Cassidy: Yes, of course. A Miracle child is someone who's been treated by the hospital we were fundraising for Connecticut Children's Medical Center. And they just go to Qthon and it's a day for them to have fun and for us to enjoy their company. And because of that experience as a team captain, because of how much I loved Qthon, I decided to become the campus relations co chair and apply for that position, which I was so grateful to receive. And I work with another peer of mine to gather organization involvement as well as involvement from faculty and staff on campus. 
 
Joel Vanner: It's an awesome organization to be involved in culminating in an awesome dance marathon for an even better cause. How do you think all of these experiences, academic and involvements are helping you prepare for your future as a PA? 
 
Jake Cassidy: I believe that these experiences are teaching me the valuable leadership skills, as well as empathy that I'm going to need for my future patients, especially with Qthon, seeing those who may not have the same opportunities that I've had. And just helping them experience something better than myself. That's truly helped me with empathy. Also, my experiences as an RA, as a peer catalyst, as a member of my fraternity have taught me to be a better leader and taught me how to collaborate with my peers more effectively, which is something that's required for me to do as a future healthcare provider. 
 
Joel Vanner: And looking back with everything you've done so far, what advice would you give your past self and then those who are listening right now if they want to take a similar career path that you're on? 
 
Jake Cassidy: I would just tell them to say yes, say yes to all the opportunities that they have presented in front of them because they never know what they'll expect from them. Also, say yes because if you say no, you may regret it. And if you say yes, you learned, if you don't like it, you tried it and you don't like it. But if you never try, won't you won't be able to have that opportunity. 
 
Joel Vanner: Words of wisdom, Jake, thank you so much for joining me on the show, sharing your insights, perspective and experience here at Quinnipiac. 
 
Jake Cassidy: Thank you so much for having me, Joel. I really appreciate the time that I've had here. 
 
Joel Vanner: If you enjoy today's episode, be sure to subscribe and share and find other episodes on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube podcasts. Until next time when I ask my next guest, who are you? I'm Joel Vanner. Bye for now.