Michael Werner

I was fortunate to be raised in an environment that nourished and encouraged, that provided resources and rewarded hard work. Lafayette’s Marquis Scholars program gave me a ticket to the better life—a life the majority of the world will never experience because they lack not the ingenuity, but the tools.

My first year was a whirlwind of activities: crew, jazz band, brass ensemble, Alternative School Break, The Lafayette, and even Army ROTC! I had scant time to even think about my lot in life. Luckily, the summer EXCEL Scholars research program allowed me some time to reflect. One balmy night, trying to chill out on the porch above Lafayette Cleaners with the windows wide open, a few of my more seasoned friends were reminiscing about college, giving me advice here and there, more for their own benefit than for mine. My buddies, in their bearded glory, helped me realize that my first-year experience was just a huge marketing ploy—an attempt to make a laundry list for a résumé.

I needed to find more personally enriching activities—activities that don’t just look good on paper, but loom into existence as tangible improvements in society. Upon the conclusion of my research that summer, I volunteered for a ballot access campaign in my home state of Wisconsin. Somewhat aghast but not disheartened by this brief exposure to the bitter political arena, I became involved with LEAP’s many environmental campaigns when I returned to Lafayette. I became interested in other pursuits as well and joined McKelvy House to be immersed in a culture of academic prerogative that celebrates diversity, balance, and wine.

Lafayette is a vehicle for careening students like me to test the water, travel down different roads, or blaze new paths entirely. At Lafayette, you’re free to pick your own analogy. You’re free to fund-raise $10,000 to meet your personal hero; you’re free to take an eight-hour weekend road trip to Vermont to meet like-minded people from around the country; you’re free to design an academic program that accommodates acquired interests; and you’re free to spin the globe and land yourself in the Bahamas. One step inside Career Services, a glance into Skillman Library, a study-abroad program, or a one-on-one meeting with a professor and you’ve experienced Lafayette’s cornucopia of resources.

But Lafayette isn’t just a vehicle—it’s a Rolls-Royce—and it’s led me to the intimate intersection of public health and environmental protection. I intend to use any authority I attain as a physician to incorporate environmental protections into a broader array of preventive measures that facilitate the eradication of unnecessary disease in overlooked and underprivileged regions of the world. Hopefully, such efforts will remove the barriers and unleash the power of human resilience so that more will have what I had: the tools and the canvas to paint a cleaner picture of the world.