UNT Dallas student makes history as first grad to be accepted to medical school through JAMP
DALLAS - As UNT Dallas celebrated 2024 graduates this week, one of their seniors made university history.
Malik Childs is the first man in his family to graduate from a four-year university and the first UNT Dallas student to apply and be accepted into medical school through what's called the Joint Admission Medical Program, or JAMP.
[REPORTER: "What was the feeling as you walked across the stage and heard your name called?"]
"It was really exciting, you know, because I've been working on this for four years, really longer than that because i've always had a dream of graduating college," said Childs.
Childs completed his schooling while working two jobs and carrying a full load.
"It was realy just me and my mom and my dad too," he said. "I was back and forth between them whenever I was in high school. Whenever I got to college it was just me and my mom really."
His mom and grandmother are still walking with him.
"It is overwhelming. Nothing but joy," Melissa Thompson, Malik's mother said. "We've been going through this excitement over him graduating, getting things prepared."
Malik's been accepted to medical school at the UNT Health Science Center at Fort Worth.
"I knew I wanted to help people, for sure, I knew that for a fact," he said.
Helping others is something Childs is familiar with, volunteers at the Stew Pot serving and helping the homeless. When his father became very ill, it piqued his interest in medicine.
"Seeing doctors and all the other health care team kind of provide good news to families and I got that same feeling I got whenever I was volunteering," said Childs.
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He's the first UNT Dallas student to apply and be accepted to med school through the Joint Admission Medical Program (JAMP), in which 13 medical schools in Texas participate to provide an opportunity for high-performing students with financial hurdles.
"I first met him in our organic chemistry class and he was a sophomore at the time, but he was far and away one of our brightest students in the class," said Muhammed Yousufuddin, an associate professor at UNT Dallas.
Yousufuddin encouraged his bright student to apply.
"He was good with all of his deadlines and he finished all of his requirements for medical school in almost a record amount of time," he said.
Childs starts med school next month.
"We have people who are waiting to get sick so that he could help them," said his mother with a laugh.
"They are like, when we get sick we are coming straight to you. I'm like try to avoid getting sick because that's my job, preventing you from having to come in here," Childs said.
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Hard work and helping others is part of Malik Childs' character.
Character that will take him far as he heads off to medical school.