Texas Tech HSC students meet their match during Match Day on Friday

Fifty-five four-year medical students from the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) from Amarillo joined with students from more than 150 other U.S. medical school programs Friday in finding out their match assignments for their residency programs in hospitals all across the nation.

Students from all across the nation nervously sat with envelopes in hand to their next chapter of their medical journey, waiting until the clock struck 11 a.m. to find out their matching assignments. Depending on the specialty, these students will be moving on for three- to seven-year residencies with the hospitals that chose them.

As the countdown came down to the time for all to open envelopes, screams of excitement rang out from all around the room at the Amarillo Civic Center as each student found out their assignments and specialties.

“What an exciting time for each of our students,” TTUHSC School of Medicine Regional Dean Richard Jordan, M.D., said. “They are now beginning the pathway to the medical specialty in which they will spend the rest of their professional careers. This new training arena will be quite challenging but very highly rewarding, and we believe they will more than meet the challenge."

Match Day has been an annual event for graduating medical students for their residency programs since 1952. TTUHSC medical students from Amarillo matched at residency programs across the country, including TTUHSC, Baylor College of Medicine, University of Texas Medical School, LSU School of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education, University of Massachusetts Chan School of Medicine, Stony Brook Teaching Hospitals, Hospitals of the University of Pennsylvania and many others. In total, 51% of the students matched in primary care residencies, and 58% of the students will stay in Texas after graduation.

“We are so proud of the work they have done for the last four years. To see the joy on their faces … knowing that hard work paid off … is what we look forward to today,” Kristin Stutz, TTUHSC assistant regional academic dean, added.

Alfred Kankam Jr. sat at his table with his parents and brother, with four hats representing hospitals he thought he would match with. He had hats from Cincinnati, Tennessee, Kansas and Texas Tech laid on the table in front of him, reminiscent of how college football recruits do on national signing day. He said that his preference this day was Cincinnati, but as he opened his envelope, he was surprised to find out he had been accepted to a very competitive orthopedic residency program at the University of Missouri at Kansas City.

“For me, I am so ecstatic that all these years of hard work has paid off,” Kankam said. “It is really great to be going there, since I have a mentor there; God put me where I am meant to be. It really makes sense now that I look at it. I have been in West Texas my whole life, so I am excited to go on to my next chapter. It took a long eight years to get here.”

Kankam said that he was inspired by his grandfather, who had to drop out of medical school due to a family member being sick. He also said that his mother being a nurse was a huge inspiration on this journey to become a doctor. His family is originally from Ghana.

“Once I got to college, it dawned on me how special being in medicine is," Kankam said. "Growing up, seeing her be a nurse, really gave me a lot of perspective on the medical profession and helping people. I am the first in my family to finish medical school, and I am so excited to follow in their footsteps.”

He said that his brother will be the next in line to go to medical school. He said that he had a mentor who inspired him to go into orthopedics, and he plans to specialize in pediatric orthopedics.

His mom, Rebecca Kankam, said that she was so excited for her son to get to this day.

“We have waited for so long, and he wanted so much to follow his grandfather’s footsteps,” she said. "I am so proud of him for all that he has done and will do.”

When asked if her being a nurse may have inspired him, she said that she hoped so.

“This is such a huge achievement for him and the family,” Rebecca Kankam said.

Benjamin and Samantha Daines, who met and became husband and wife while in medical school, received assignments to two different hospitals, both in Houston. Benjamin Daines received an assignment to Baylor College of Medicine in Houston for internal medicine, and Samantha Daines got matched to Texas Memorial Hospital for family medicine in Houston. The hospitals are about 15 minutes apart in the city.

The couple has been married for two years and were very excited about landing their assignments in the same city for their residencies. Asked why he chose to go into internal medicine, Benjamin Daines said that it was a decision that took a while.

“I changed my mind like seven times in medical school, and I really liked the variety of knowledge that is required in that field,” Benjamin Daines said. “I really like having options.”

For Samantha Daines, she said that she originally wanted to go into pediatrics, but after some time in school said that she really wanted to go into primary care.

"I was so speechless to see that we both got assigned to Houston; it was so exciting to get to this day and see where we are going to practice medicine at,” she said.

These students join all those across the nation in journeying onto their next chapter in medicine.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: TTUHSC medical students get residency assignments on Match Day