Scholarships, RHOP acceptance advance student's medical degree path

LaCrete, a 2012 graduate of Garden County High School in Oshkosh, Nebraska, and now a fourth-year student at CSC, was one of 30 students selected for CSC’s RHOP contingent last spring. The program, which offers early acceptance into University of Nebraska Medical Center medical education programs for qualified students who commit to returning to rural Nebraska to practice, traditionally has been open only to incoming freshmen in the Nebraska State College System.

LaCrete was accepted for the program in March through a new application route made available by UNMC.

“I was one of the first to get in while currently in college,” LaCrete said.

Already intent on becoming a doctor when he entered college, and mindful of the difficulty of gaining entrance to medical school, LaCrete said when he received recommendations from professors to apply for RHOP under the new process, he already had most of the application material ready.

“It’s probably the hardest part of going to medical school, getting in,” he said.

Financing college and a medical school education is also a challenge, and LaCrete, who was awarded Gates Millennium and Nebraska Horatio Alger scholarships as a high school senior, said he has lots of experience in filling out scholarship applications.

“The way I see it, there is money out there and if you spend maybe six hours (filling an application) and get $1,000, it’s almost $200 an hour,” he said.

LaCrete was also the ideal recipient for a scholarship established about three years ago by the Dolsons, 1969 CSC graduates, Carroll said. 

“The first priority (for the scholarships) is for Garden County students that have a (financial) need, That county has a tough time economically,” said Carroll Dolson, a native of Oshkosh, who now lives in Utah.

Dolson said he and his wife remembered their own college experience when they established the scholarship.

“I received a lot of help when I went through school at Chadron. … I had loans and grants and scholarships to make it through,” Dolson said. “The scholarship is intended to help students with need that are going someplace.”

LaCrete, a former CSC football player and a current member of the track and field team, said he’s not certain what branch of medicine he’ll pursue, but his experience in anatomy class is leading him in the direction of surgery right now. He also plans to earn a master’s degree in public health, and said he might like to work in a public hospital or possibly for the Centers for Disease Control.

The extended time in classes required to achieve his career goals don’t seem to daunt LaCrete, who plans a fifth year at CSC before heading to UNMC.

“It’s just school,” he said of the many years of study required to achieve his goals. “The hard part is going out in the real world.”