By Christina Hornack, DO
Immediate Past President of ACOEP-RSO
AOA TIPS Fellow

In a popular musical there is a reference made to “the room where it happens,” but where is this room and how do you get there? It turns out, as an adult, this is usually every room you’ve been avoiding, and you get there by just showing up. Most everyone you know is usually “too busy” to participate in another activity, and so engagement is generally low. But what if we could find time to attend that committee, or go to a class, or volunteer to help?

The first time I showed up for one of these extra activities, it was a membership meeting for the honors society I had just been inducted into. At the time, I thought I would pursue the law, and my aunt told me that I would need to not only show up, but to be an officer in that group if I wanted to get into law school. I ended up running for an officer position which, after years of participating in one way or another, resulted in me being the speaker for my graduating class. Through my connection with the faculty mentor of that group, I was able to nimbly change direction from law to medicine, get connected with all the people who could help me make that happen, and add things to my CV which would catapult me into medical school.

No one wants another task added to their list. If you’re anything like me, you live somewhere between comfortably busy and overwhelmed every single day. But if we shift our focus from classifying things as “tasks” and instead look at them as “opportunities” it becomes easier. And really, that’s what they are.

Obviously not every opportunity is going to change your life and your future profession. But then how do we determine where to invest our time, and where to decline participation? It turns out, we get the most out of the things we put the most into. And we put more effort into things that we enjoy. In the beginning of my “showing up” phase, I had no idea what I enjoyed doing. I ended up agreeing to participate in everything, and then had to cull back to just my most enjoyable activities. That can obviously lead to some uncomfortable conversations, but most people are fairly understanding when you explain that you’re pre-med.

Once you’ve established what you enjoy, you’ll also discover your own personal aptitudes. After we know the things we enjoy AND the things that we are good at, our participation becomes much more seamless. Along my journey, I learned that I enjoy organizing events and writing. I found ways to leverage these activities into most situations, as most groups will need someone to organize things and then write about them.

It was over a decade ago since that first meeting with the honors society. Since that time, I’ve been president of multiple undergraduate organizations, participated on the national level in graduate school, attended multiple conferences and had my expenses paid for, and met people who could get me into “the room where it happens” to match emergency medicine and then find a job. In addition to all of that, I’ve met some really great people – people whose weddings I’ve attended, whose children I’ve held, whose families I’ve stayed with, and who have undoubtedly enriched my life in immeasurable ways.

Christina Hornack, DO started her undergraduate journey in the fall of 2005 as a non-traditional student with a husband and 8 year old son. After an unexpected job loss in 2010, she decided to pursue medical school and was able to leverage her network to connect with all the right contacts. She started medical school at 36 and would later learn she was the oldest person in her class. She is now a single coverage, critical access nocturnist somewhere in the Midwest with an incredible group. She spends her spare time mentoring medical students, serving as a public relations co-chair of the ACOEP Women’s Committee, and hanging out with her husband and dog.

If you’d like to tell your story, we would love to hear it! We publish in The Pulse quarterly and are always looking for incredible women to share their passions.

GET INVOLVED
ACOEP’s Committee for Women in Emergency Medicine is seeking a medical student and a resident representative. To learn more and get into “the room where it happens,” email  info@acoep.org.