College of Medicine to join in Zora Neale Hurston Festival

Students and faculty at UCF's College of Medicine are planning to participate in the 23rd Annual Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities in Eatonville, Fla. this weekend from Jan. 27 through Jan. 29.

College of Medicine faculty, staff members and students have reserved a booth at the festival for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, during which they aim to talk with festival-goers about the college's various medical programs and the recently opened UCF Pegasus Health Program near UCF's main campus.

Dr. Lisa Barkley, assistant dean for diversity and inclusion and assistant professor of medicine at UCF, is scheduled to give short presentations throughout the day on Friday, the day festival organizers designated as education day.

The series of presentations titled, "So You Want to be a Doctor," will last about 15 minutes each and will be made to middle and high school students from local schools attending the festival. Presentations will be given on the hour from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Barkley said.

Barkley said that she will be using her speaking time to increase youth awareness of careers in medicine and about the things that middle and high school students need to be thinking about and doing now in order to make a successful career in medicine happen for them.

"The College of Medicine is really interested in being involved with the community," Barkley said.

She said that she got involved with the Zora Neale Hurston Festival during the summer and was interested in the festival and the Eatonville community because it has such a great history.

The town of Eatonville was one of the first incorporated black towns and was formed after the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.

Zora Neale Hurston, African-American folklorist, anthropologist and author as well as the festival's namesake, grew up in Eatonville and called it her home.

The college's involvement with the festival also offers some of the individual students at the College of Medicine the chance to interact with people in the community, especially youths who may be interested in a career in medicine or may not have an idea what they want to do in the future.

Sharise Richardson, a graduate student at the College of Medicine, has volunteered to represent UCF at the festival.

While an undergraduate at the University of Miami, Richardson minored in Africana studies and discovered a passion for African-American history.

She said she heard about the festival last year and when she read that Barkley was going to be speaking at the festival and that UCF was involved this year, she wanted to be involved as well.

Richardson said that for African-American youths, seeing African-Americans like Barkley and herself involved with and on their way to medical careers is important.

"It helps to kind of bridge the gap and help the youth get involved in medicine," Richardson said.

Richardson knew that she wanted a career in science when she was in high school, but wasn't sure which of the many fields she would like to pursue.

"Something like [the festival] would have helped me internalize wanting to be a doctor," she said.

Wendy Sarubbi, director of communication at the College of Medicine, is one of the faculty members helping to organize the college's involvement with the festival this year.

"It'll be the first of many other things we do to reach out," she said.

Sarubbi sees involvement in events like this as the college's way to give back to a community that she says had a large part in UCF even having a medical school.

Sarubbi said that many members of the Orlando community showed their support for the College of Medicine to be built by making donations and lobbying for it at the state capitol.

For this reason, Sarubbi called the College of Medicine "the medicine school that belongs to us all," and she said that college faculty and students plan on continuing in trying to repay the community for its contribution.