Camp experiences key for medical student

Fourth-year medical student Dan Mulhall will be going for his match in pediatrics this May, a process that could land him almost anywhere in the country.

Physical distance seems to be the only thing that will keep Mulhall away from the Munroe-Meyer Institute.

Mulhall began volunteering in his junior year of high school at age 16, after MMI volunteer coordinator Nicole Giron came to his school. Today, Muhall credits Giron’s presentation seeking Camp Munroe volunteers not only for his work at MMI, but also for opening the path that would lead him to medicine.

“It sounded like a really cool opportunity,” he said. “I signed up for a few months of it and had a great time. I kept volunteering through that next summer and then became staff before the end of that summer.”

College at Notre Dame didn’t slow Mulhall down – he came back during the summer and worked at MMI, and he continued working summers through his first two years in medical school at UNMC. Even now, as he prepares to apply for pediatric residencies, he volunteers for the Thursday night adult rec therapy program.

“My interest in medicine probably stems directly from my camp experiences,” he said. “Having had the opportunity to work there for a number of years, I had the opportunity to watch a lot of the kids progress and grow up. I also got to see the relationships that the kids had with the full-time staff members who saw them weekly for years.”

Mulhall saw how integral those staff members were, not only to the campers having fun, but also their development and growth.

“I thought that was really a wonderful aspect of their job and something I wanted to pursue in my future career,” he said. Pediatrics seemed perfect – like his MMI co-workers, he could work with children he might know for a long time, help in their growth and development and watch them flourish.

Even today, Mulhall remembers his first day of camp.

“I was pretty nervous when I arrived,” he said. “It’s a very busy and active place, the hallways are full, and there’s a wide variety of people.”

But he also remembers leaving that first day, after being paired with his first camper “buddy.”

“I remember how excited I was, and how happy. Going back the next week, I wasn’t nervous at all. It’s a very clear and dear memory for me, because it introduced me to a whole group of wonderful people I don’t think I would have met otherwise.”

The camp obviously isn’t for the volunteers or the staff members, Mulhall said. “It’s designed to help the population it serves, but I grew up a lot there myself, I learned a lot of things.”

Mulhall has a theory why so many rec therapy volunteers and staffers go on to health professions.

“The people who volunteer are probably people who are more inclined to giving this sort of thing a try, and that may speak to a propensity for those fields,” he said.

“But camp also gives the volunteers a great opportunity to experience very early on that wonderful feeling, that you’ve made a positive impact on someone else’s life. And that feeling is addicting.”