Students are required to perform two summers of service, one while at Siena and another while at Albany Medical College. Between Junior and Senior years, Siena-AMC students embark on this Summer of Service.
These service activities will largely be done in areas where the population is underserved. The students may travel abroad or remain in the United States depending on their interests. This unique part of the program, combined with Siena's strong emphasis on a broad based scientific and liberal arts curriculum, gives our students a profound depth of knowledge, understanding, and compassion when they enter their medical careers. The Summer of Service typically lasts four to six weeks. All expenses, including airfare, are financed from an endowment fund, so there are no additional costs to the students. There is also a weekly stipend provided for those students who are volunteering.
Since the inception of the Siena-AMC program, hundreds of Siena students have undertaken the Summer of Service in many countries. For students traveling abroad, every effort is made to ensure that they are safe while they are away. For this reason, the Program uses various well-established organizations to arrange this activity. Students are not permitted to go to areas where high level travel warnings have been issued by the State Department or the Center for Disease Control.
Students are not required to travel abroad. Many choose to help Native Americans, the poor, the disabled, and those in inner cities. Volunteer activities are most commonly undertaken in orphanages, long term care facilities, medical clinics, community outreach programs, and youth programs.
The opportunity to work with such a unique organization has truly been the experience of a lifetime. To be able to personally interact with and enter the homes of people facing struggles incomprehensible to people in the United States was incredibly heartbreaking and humbling.
