On Tuesday, Oct. 17, 16 M4 students participated in their induction into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, a society recognizing students, alumni and faculty who dedicate themselves to the medical profession.

About 3,500 people are inducted into this society each year, and two of OUWB’s inducted students, Danielle Ryba and Jeff Cross, are honored to be a part of this exclusive group.

“It’s nice to be recognized for the hard work that you’ve done,” Cross says. “Not just for the academics, but the teaching, the mentoring, the community service; all the work that we put in outside of classes gets taken into consideration.”

When juggling academics with volunteer hours, jobs and extracurricular activities, the students look to the future in order to maintain their focus and drive.

“(The hard work) is not really for the award, it’s not for us, it’s for our future patients, and the people that this education is really going to benefit in the future,” Cross says.

Ryba adds: “I always try to remember that soon I will be the responsible physician, and my patients will be counting on me. Therefore, I try to learn as much as I can each day.”

Both Ryba and Cross encourage younger students aspiring to one day be inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha to spend less time worrying about winning, and more time seeking opportunities to do things about which they are passionate.

“Don’t focus on checking off a to-do list of things you need to do to be competitive, but do what you love, and the rest will follow,” Ryba says. According to Cross, “OUWB does a really great job of building the sense of camaraderie versus competition.”

Fellow 2017 inductees include Jonathan Chao, Kelly Curran, Morgan Gruner, Megan Hsu, Austen Knapp, Harjivan Kohli, Wanda Lai, Kade McQuivey, Rachel Nash, Patricia Poling, Johnathon Recknagel, Kalli Sarigiannis, Kevin Serdahely and Angela Thelen.

Danielle Ryba	Jeff Cross