HPU'S PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT PROGRAM: A NEW TRADITION BEGINS.

• Position: EXTRAORDINARY EDUCATION

Dr. Linda Sekhon remembers how a professional dream of hers started out.

Three pieces of paper.

She wrote what she felt she needed in a building to get students from HPU's new physician assistant master's program ready for one of the country's fastest growing careers.

Today, after the program's first cohort of 19 graduated in August, Sekhon can walk through the new $120 million Congdon Hall complex and smile at everything she sees.

Ask Sekhon about that, and she takes a deep breath.

"Oh my goodness," she says. "I tell people over and over, this is where the magic happens."

The magic is the education the next generation of physician assistants, better known as"PAs,"will receive. Two recent grads, Megan Anderson and Rachel Walker, know that firsthand.

'READY FOR THE REAL WORLD'

After 27 months, Anderson and Walker couldn't believe it was over.

They had spent 15 months in the classroom and the next year going through nine different rotations that introduced them to everything from orthopedic surgery to the trauma of the emergency room.

The hands-on practice helped them zero in on what they believed would be their professional life's intent. Anderson wants to help families; Walker wants to help soldiers and civilians in the far reaches of the world.

So, Anderson will practice in New York City; Walker will practice in the military. They both say the education they received at HPU prepared them well.

"They've made us ready for the real world," says Walker, 26.

Both Anderson and Walker remember when learning became life.

For Walker, it happened in a local emergency room. She inserted two tubes into the body of a car accident victim to help save his life, and with her hand deep in his chest, what she was doing began to sink in.

"Holy smoke," she thought. "I can probably tickle his lungs!"

For Anderson, it happened at a patient's bedside. She heard about the ordinary, yet important, moments of his life--bowling every other Sunday with the woman he loved.

"To me, that is so rewarding," says Anderson, 28. "You get to know them from a medical and personal sense, and begin asking yourself, 'What should I do differently? What did I do well? What will I carry with me in the future?'

"That is really cool."

A PROMISING FUTURE OF POSSIBILITIES

Since its first cohort, HPU now receives more than 1,500 applications for its new PA program, and the competition is fierce for a handful of slots.

Next August, 21 PA students will graduate followed by two more...