Ready to be impressed? Catie D’Angelo (daughter of Dublin Life’s own Colleen D’Angelo!) is an undergraduate sophomore at Ohio University and is already enrolled in OU’s Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine – she doesn’t even have to take the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT). The Dublin Coffman High School alumna thanks the Biomedical Research Academy through the Dublin City School District for much of her academic success.
Biomed, as D’Angelo calls it, is an integrated immersion into biology, research, physiology and art offered to students interested in careers in medicine. The program covers advanced sciences, features interactive labs and professional speakers, and concludes with a capstone project of choice.
“Hearing that I could do more hands-on activities with bio throughout the day, I thought, ‘This will be perfect, I’ll be able to learn so much more, understand it more,’ and that’s exactly what happened,” D’Angelo says. “It was all focused on us learning – it wasn’t about the exams, the test or even getting an A. I was surrounded by people who wanted to be there and that really helped my motivation.”
Biomed isn’t an AP science course, it’s more advanced. D’Angelo spent half her day in the program, so juggling her other required classes was a challenge. Still, the in-depth material taught in biomed made her transition into college a breeze.
“(Biomed) was the first time I took a conceptual bio class where I had to take all of my knowledge and actually apply it,” she says, “which honestly really helped me by the time I got to college and I was taking intro bio.”
D’Angelo says one of her favorite parts of biomed was the research. For her capstone, she focused on analyzing the heart with a holistic approach to medicine. The project required hours of data collection and in-depth writing, but it all paid off.
Once D’Angelo decided to pursue pre-med at OU, applying for OU’s Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine Early Assurance Program was next on her list. D’Angelo discovered the program after her biomed teacher, Roger Rabold, invited an OU doctor to speak during class.
After being accepted into early assurance, D’Angelo has the opportunity to earn her undergraduate and doctorate degrees in as few as seven years.
“I called my dad, my sister, my mother and was like, ‘You’ll never believe it, listen to this program, it’s amazing,’” D’Angelo says. “It’s all because Mr. Rabold made that effort to reach out and get these different connections for us. He really showed us that he wanted us to succeed.”
As for after school, D’Angelo hopes to work with kids, conduct cancer research or even combine the two passions.
This OU sophomore knows that accomplishing her pre-college goals wouldn't have been possible without the help of Rabold and her family. Her sister, Courtney, cheers her up when times are stressful; her brother, Christopher, keeps her competitive spirit high; her father, Tony, is a true cheerleader; her mother, Colleen, helps with anything and everything.
“My family is so supportive, they are the best,” she says. “I couldn’t ask for better parents or better siblings.”
Lydia Freudenberg is an associate editor. Feedback welcome at lfreudenberg@cityscenemediagroup.com.
