Schyler Edwards wove her way through the crowd in the lobby of Temple University’s Lewis Katz Medical School clutching a white envelope.
Edwards said her path to Match Day on Friday started, in many ways, when her grandparents immigrated from Guyana for more opportunities in the United States, instilling in their children the importance of higher learning. Now, their granddaughter was joining medical school graduates across the country in an annual ritual to mark the next stage of her training.
Edwards, who is Black, said she “had never seen anyone who looks like me as a medical doctor” growing up. Now, she feels pride to be able to“Sometimes it’s a smile, sometimes just a look in their eyes, like ‘Oh my god, there’s a Black woman taking care of me now,” she said. “There’s an ease that comes with it, someone who comes from a similar cultural and racial background, who maybe is familiar with her neighborhood.
Just before 12 p.m., Katz dean Amy Goldberg walked up to a podium at the front of the room and told Schyler and her classmates to ready themselves.