Dr. Karl Stockhausen

Student of the Semester Award

An Introduction to the Karl Stockhausen Student of the Semester Award

by: Gustavo Galue

The Karl Stockhausen Student of the Semester Award honors the life of Karl Stockhausen, an AUC student who was outstanding in many ways throughout his life. At AUC, he was president of American Medical Students Association, member of the Student Judiciary Committee, active in diabetes screening on the island, and an Anatomy teaching assistant and Orientation Advisor.

The Student Judiciary Committee created the award, first presented in 2009. The award is given to a student who embodies compassion and humility, serves as an inspiration to  fellow students,  and owns a record of professionalism throughout their enrollment at AUC with a strong record of contribution to AUC and the St. Maarten community.

In May 2014, Dean Ron Testa announced a revision of the award to include a $5000 grant to be used to support projects that contribute to better health on the island, connect students to the island in very real ways, and demonstrate true collaborative planning and implementation. The intention is that proposals considered in selecting the award recipient should reflect collaboration between a student and a St. Maarten organization, not solely a student’s idea, and that the proposal emerges over time as a student works with and develops a relationship with an organization.

The awards reflect attitudes and behaviors described by Karl Stockhausen in a White Coat speech as he presented his advice on working toward being a confident and compassionate physician.  The stirring speech given to AUC classmates provided an in-person glimpse into the spirit and drive of Karl Stockhausen. As advice to incoming students, he offered three words to guide the journey to becoming an outstanding physician – contribute, discipline, humanize the profession: 

·      Contribute to your experience – rather than complaining and doing nothing, you can make a difference if you want to. You can work with others (at AUC, faculty, students, administration) to make a difference. Do not use the excuse of no time; you can make time for what you want. Students given the opportunity to pursue their dream at AUC should want to make AUC a better place.

·      Discipline – you need to study; medical school is hard; pay attention to learning.  You need to study – everything is important; everything builds on what you are learning now; spend more time studying for long-term retention and understanding while also studying for short-term regurgitation just before a test.  Active learning that leads to understanding is an essential practice.  You need to be able to recall and use information.  Life does not come in multiple-choice form. You need to able to fill in the blanks; you need to understand concepts in depth. As a student, use your professors – question things you don’t understand.

·      Humanize the profession – There is no place for arrogance in being a physician; confidence is necessary and is not the same as arrogance. Always remember where you came from – a medical school on an island in the Caribbean that did not need a curve and did not need competition. Being a medical student has been likened to climbing a mountain. Once you finish school, earn the MD after your name and enter residency, your colleagues will be with you at the top of the mountain. Karl urged the students to remember to look down to their patients down below and then  to walk back down that mountain to relate to patients, understand where they are coming from, and  develop the ability to put their story together in order to be a physician who humanizes the profession.

Karl urged his classmates to remember that AUC gave them a chance. Use the opportunity to get where you want to go. Prove to yourself that you were meant to do what you dreamed.

 Since 2014, fifteen awards have been given,
resulting in funding for eight community organizations*:

·      Sickle Cell Foundation
·      White & Yellow Cross
·      Player Development 3x
·      Phillipsburg Jubilee Library
·      HOPE Foster Home
·      Ideal Nursery School
·      Cole Bay Seventh Day Adventist Church Soup Kitchen
·      SXM PAWS

 *Awards in September 2014, May 2015, and May 2017 were allocated for purchase of equipment (kept at AUC) to be used in community programs.

 A letter from Dr. Ronald Testa about the start of the Dr. Karl Stockhausen Student of the Semester Award

Dear Bill and Carole Jean,

I hope that this brief email finds you both well enjoying the gift and promise of a new year. I begin each work day looking at a framed photo that I have of Karl and three of his colleagues as they greeted new students to the island and offered them hope, support and encouragement. He remains with all of us who were touched by his passion, courage, wisdom and good humor through the passage of time.

I am pleased to report that the current student members of the Van Wormer Student Judiciary committee have named an award after Karl which will honor a student selected each semester, through a process of peer review, who best exemplifies the spirit of professionalism and service to others. Karl was a member of the Van Wormer Judiciary Committee during his time with us on island so I find it particularly heart-warming that the students who learned of his passing sought to honor the important lessons that he taught all of us.

The first award will be presented on Friday, January 15, 2010 during our White Coat Ceremony. At White Coat, we will be officially welcoming 94 new first semester students who have joined us during January 2010, and honoring the 38 members of our soon departing 5th Semester class who will be inducted into our Honor and Service Society (Alpha Omega Phi). Karl was also a member of Alpha Omega Phi and joined us if memory serves during a January class many years ago so it seems somehow very fitting that the first Karl Stockhausen Memorial Student Award will be presented this Friday.

Karl remains very much with us at AUC; please know I think of you both often and wish you continued healing.

Dr. Karl Stockhausen Student of the Semester Award

Best,

Ron
Ronald J. Testa, Ph.D.
Associate Dean for Student Affairs
Professor of Behavioral Sciences
American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine
Sint Maarten, Netherlands, Antilles

The Dr. Dale Van Wormer Student Judiciary Committee (VWJC)

VWJC is a student run organization that deals with student-to-student conflicts and infractions of the AUC Honor Code. Their goal is to promote an environment at AUC that is not only conducive to learning, but is trustworthy, respectable, and is in accordance with the ethics and values set forth by the medical community. Members consist of students in the second to fifth semesters.

You can search the American University of the Caribbean’s news site for information about the Dr. Karl Stockhausen award recipients.