Debbie Tschong

When Debbie Tschong enrolled at UMass Amherst in 2011, she knew the medical field lay in her future, but she wasn’t so sure about the path she would take to get there. Looking for opportunities within the College of Natural Sciences that might help her chart a course, she found a beacon in the fledgling iCons Program.

Although initially drawn to the program because of its unique focus on biomedicine, Tschong explained that she has come to value iCons as much for what it represents: An attitude toward education that inspires students to look outside of the classroom walls.

“I didn’t really know what I was getting into,” admitted Tschong, explaining that iCons was still a bit of a mystery because nobody had graduated yet. But when it came down to the decision to join the Second Wave, she said, “You had to put your faith in the program.”

Tschong knows from personal experience what it means to keep the faith. Her father is a pastor in a South Korean church who has followed his calling across the globe with his family by his side.

Tschong was born in the United States, but her family moved to Seoul for ten years after her uncle passed away so her father could take over his position as the principal of a private Christian school. A few years after her father became a pastor, they left Korea for assignments at mission churches in the United States, first in New Jersey and New York, now in eastern Massachusetts.

In addition to moving to different church locations, Tschong has traveled to participate in community service. She accompanied her father to Haiti in 2010 to help with relief in the wake of the earthquake, and went to Ontario with fellow students to teach Bible school at Grassy Narrows First Nation, an indigenous community devastated by contamination from a paper mill that dumped mercury in the local water supply in the 1960s.

Given Tschong's eye-witness experiences of global problems such as natural and environmental disasters, iCons has provided an outlet for exploring ways in which science can help provide solutions.

Just as important, she has found a community in iCons that recognizes the value of giving back. During her sophomore year, Tschong was inspired by fellow iCons scholar Kurt Schultz, who co-founded the UCAN Volunteer program at UMass to connect students with volunteering opportunities in Amherst Public Schools. Putting their heads together, they thought: “Why not combine this with iCons?”

Tschong met with iCons Program Director Scott Auerbach to figure out where to begin, initially hoping to arrange for iCons 1 students to share their final projects in high-school classes. They quickly realized it would be prohibitively difficult to align so many students’ schedules.

That’s when Auerbach mentioned Girls Inc., a program with branches in Holyoke and Lowell that empowers girls to engage with topics in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and encourages them to pursue careers in these fields. A group of about 30 students from Girls Inc. came to UMass for four weeks over the summer to participate in Eureka!, a new program in which middle- and high-school girls work on STEM projects with faculty members.

One of the primary goals of Eureka! is to address the gender gap in STEM by providing mentors for girls from underserved communities. Who better to serve as role models than young women in iCons?

In October, Tschong and fellow iCons student LeeAnn Monteverde (Second Wave) went to Holyoke to meet the girls and introduce them to the iCons methodology, challenging them to think about applications for science in solving global problems.

Then in November, 30 students from Girls Inc. came to UMass Amherst to take part in an iCons case study led by Tschong, Monteverde, and Erin Amato (First Class), with guidance from Auerbach.

“Scott said I looked happy doing it,” Tschong said. “I had forgotten what it’s like to spend time with girls that age. They are really sweet, and really funny.”

The initiative was so successful, it has spawned a new opportunity. This summer, the UMass Civic Engagement and Service Learning (CESL) Vision Project will sponsor two internships exclusively for iCons students to work with Eureka!

For Tschong, the experience reinforced the importance of pursuing your passion, and she advises other students to follow suit. “Don’t be scared to approach the professors with your ideas,” she said. “That’s what iCons is about.”

Tschong is excited about the new initiative with CESL, and hopes other iCons students will be inspired to seize the opportunity. Meanwhile, she will be continuing on her path toward a career in medicine by taking part in the second part of the Baccalaureate MD Pathway Program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester.

This spring, Tschong is spending the semester abroad in Oviedo, Spain, to develop her Spanish skills, which she hopes can play a role in her future in medicine. Before going to medical school, she wants to take a gap year to participate in a medical outreach program in a Spanish-speaking country, and she is already planning her next adventure. “I want to take ‘Medical Spanish’ when I get back in the fall,” she said.