Staff Spotlight: Mackenzie Rodgers

Mackenzie has been working for Atlantis for over a year, starting on the Admissions team and bouncing around to join both the Promotion team and International team as a Site Manager in Madrid, Spain. Her favorite, though, is getting to work with the Alumni Ambassadors who return from their Fellowships and join the Atlantis community long-term.

I studied my undergrad degree in Madrid, Spain, and, during that time, lived with a host family. My favorite memor(ies) include traveling with them outside of the city on the weekends, spending time in their mountain house with the whole family, and just being allowed the opportunity to be adopted fully into the Spanish culture in a way that tourists are not often allowed.

It has been wonderful to be able to encourage students to take off on a journey that will challenge them personally as well as academically. As a Site Manager, I was challenged beyond compare when learning how to manage all of the logistics that go into planning a successful, safe, fun, and educational program abroad. The students always make it all worth it!

We hear a lot of stories about students finding renewed passion for medicine, discovering themselves outside of their comfort zones, or even having their minds changed entirely about what they thought they wanted to pursue in the healthcare field. However, I think the best stories that I have heard from returning students are those which involve the longevity of the friendships made between Fellows. Students are going on second Fellowships together, reuniting at Ambassador conferences, and just keeping in really close contact in general. It's the sweetest.

If I could choose, I would go on a 4 week program in the smallest town I can find available. In that amount of time, not only do you become familiar with the hospital staff and doctors you are seeing every day, but a small corner of the world that few outsiders know about becomes like a second home to you, and not many people can say they've ventured outside of the large European cities!

What makes Atlantis unique are the people who are working directly with the students. Back at the office we are always talking about students that have awesome stories, remembering students fondly that we spoke to over a year ago, and getting so excited when they come back to us in the form of Ambassadors! We get pretty attached, I'd have to say, and the returning students can tell that we genuinely care about them and want them to succeed.

Believing in what you do. The hard work that we put in in the office is not always tangible throughout the year, but when the programs are up and running and the feedback from the students starts to flood in, it's so much easier to see the big picture of why this program matters and how it is affecting students' lives, both individually and on the larger scale of the future of healthcare.