From homeless to med school

Mar. 20—EAU CLAIRE — Broc Kelley was in shock after he answered the phone.

"As soon as they said the word 'accepted,' I started crying," the UW-Eau Claire senior said, describing the moment when leaders of the Native American Center for Health Professionals at UW-Madison informed him he'd be attending the university's School of Medicine and Public Health this fall on a full scholarship. "I didn't even know the specifics of the scholarship for a couple weeks. I was just too overcome with emotion to keep listening."

Tuition for each year at the Madison medical school is about $40,000, but Kelley's scholarship is likely worth around $250,000 considering interest, he said.

"It's just incredible. I'm very blessed," Kelley said this week, immediately crediting his professors and mentors for their help along the way.

He plans to graduate from UW-Eau Claire this spring with a biology major and a minor in pre-professional health science; he's also completing research in chemistry. Over the summer, he'll move to Madison and start med school in the fall.

Kurt Wiegel, a chemistry professor at UW-Eau Claire Kelley is assisting with academic research, said he's never had a student get such a scholarship.

Wiegel said in a February story from the university: "I've never heard of it in my life. I've heard some people getting some scholarships, but I've never had a student who got a full ride. And I can't think of anyone who deserves it more."

Kelley's road to achieving his dream has been long and demanding, including a period of time homeless several years ago.

Kelley spent much of his childhood in western Wisconsin. When he graduated from high school in 2010 he knew he wanted to become a doctor, but "it was more of a fairytale dream," he said. "It wasn't grounded in reality."

He applied to UW-Eau Claire in 2010, hoping to declare as a pre-med student, but wasn't accepted. Kelley spent a stint at UW-Stout directly after high school, but was academically dismissed from the university in 2011.

"I didn't really know what I wanted to do," he said. "I just needed to do some growing up and learn some life lessons."

He started taking on odd jobs in carpentry and roofing, and at one point when his car broke down, he lost two jobs working at different gyms. Kelley began couchsurfing and sleeping in his car when he couldn't find a place to stay.

A turning point came, he said, when he was standing in line for a free meal at Eau Claire nonprofit The Community Table.

"I promised myself that at some point I'd be at the other side of the table, helping serve folks," Kelley said.

He credits many community members who helped him get jobs, a vehicle and get back on his feet. Kelley eventually started working as a CNA at Lake Hallie Memory Care and spent about five years there before deciding to give school another shot.

But at the same time, his grandmother — who had helped raise him — became ill and passed away in 2017.

"It was really heart-wrenching," Kelley said of watching his grandmother's health deteriorate. "... She was such a good, nurturing presence. That's definitely where I got my care-oriented spirit from. When she passed, it was like a torch that needed to be taken up. It's my goal to make her proud in that way."

Kelley transferred to UW-Eau Claire, was accepted and began classes there in 2019.

When the COVID-19 pandemic began in spring 2020, it presented hurdles for Kelley and other students — shortened laboratory hours and virtual classes were tough. Because he also worked at a local hospital and at the memory care facility, Kelley had to enter isolation due to COVID-19 many times, though he never tested positive.

Applying for medical school was another hurdle: Kelley used his pandemic stimulus checks to pay for application fees and spent 500 hours in 3 1/2 months studying for the Medical College Admission Test.

It all paid off this spring with the news of a full ride scholarship.

Kelley thanked the people who helped him reach this point, especially Wiegel and Keith Tompkins, a family service advisor at Lake Hallie Memory Care, where he worked.

Kelley, who is Native American, hopes to use a medical degree to help bring culturally competent medical care to reservations, inner city areas and rural communities: "There's definitely a stigma there with western medicine ... I'm hoping to erode that stigma. That's my goal."