Motivational Medicine Anonymous

"Question one: An apple collides with an orange and the orange rolls ten feet up an incline. What was the apple's initial velocity?"

I finished reading as my peers started calculating. Welcome to Gateway Science Workshop (GSW), a science enrichment program for undergraduates at my college. Questions such these push us to think critically, conceptually, and creatively.

I originally joined GSW to improve my performance in class. My grades went up, but of greater importance was my discovery of a group of peers who helped each other learn. GSW let me collaborate with and befriend fellow students at a competitive school. Though I eventually majored in biology, my work in physics at GSW gave me the confidence that I could succeed in science. It also inspired in me a passion for science and problem-solving that I wanted to carry through to medicine, aspiring to use my knowledge of medical science to treat illness and help others.

GSW solidified my interest in science, but it also made me more outgoing. When my peers and I solved physics problems together, I would explain difficult concepts to classmates who did not grasp the material as well. Sometimes multiple students would offer explanations, each in their own words and...