Ellen Reidy ’22

Having just completed my undergraduate education last May, I am one of the younger ones in my class, and I am so thankful to have the opportunity and honor to be here. My hometown is an island community off of the coast of Maine called Vinalhaven, which has about 1,200 year-round residents. With a graduating senior class of 16 people, I was excited to move to New York for college and loved it there, but I missed Maine. While I was in New York, I became very interested in learning about different cultures, practices, and how people lived their lives all over the world, since I had come from somewhere so small.

Because of these interests, I love to travel and have been to more than 20 different countries through education and volunteering. I am the education and outreach coordinator for UNE COM’s Global Health Club, and we are gearing up for our summer medical mission trip to Panama this June. In Panama, I’ll be working with fellow OMS-I and OMS-II students, professors, alumni, and other doctors, all with the common goal of treating patients and educating them on preventative ways to care for themselves and their families. One of the reasons I chose to come to UNE was because of these amazing community and worldwide engagement opportunities. Also, since I am from such a small town, I am very interested in rural medicine, wilderness medicine, and primary care. At UNE, there are clubs for each of these, where I am able to share these interests with my classmates, professors, doctors, and UNE alumni.