Alexa Rothenbuescher: Leading The Way

Leading The Way: A series where the leaders of Maryland’s four student-led groups (SAAC, Pre-Health Terps, Worldwide Terps and the Team IMPACT Fellows) share their goals for the upcoming year ahead. Next up is Pre-Health Terps President Alexa Rothenbuescher (Gymnastics).

Hi Terp Family!

My name is Alexa Rothenbuescher, and I am a senior Public Health Science major and a member of the Women’s Gymnastics team. Upon graduation, I plan to attend physician assistant school and look forward to the next chapter of my academic journey. This will be my fourth year being a part of the Pre-Health Terps student-athlete organization, and I am so excited to be serving as the President of the Pre-Health Terps Executive Board this upcoming year. For the past three years, this program has been essential to my growth in my pre-health journey.

Pre-Health Terps is an organization that aims to provide excellent opportunities, knowledge, and resources to pre-health student-athletes. Furthermore, this group's vision is to cultivate a particular set of skills and provide mentorship within pre-health tracks best to prepare our members for their future health-related occupations. The programming of Pre-Health Terps is designed to give a unique experience to student-athletes they would not be able to get in an average classroom setting. Student-athletes can connect with alums in their desired health profession, ask grad school admissions questions about how to make their applications stand out, and are allowed to speak with panelists about different paths within the medical field if they are still determining what they want to do. Pre-Health Terps also allow student-athletes to create a community of like-minded individuals who can help one another achieve their career goals upon completing their athletic careers at Maryland.

During my freshman year, I was introduced to this program through mutual friends and began attending meetings on Zoom in 2020. This group of individuals is exceptionally welcoming and wants to help you reach your full potential in the healthcare field. Everyone understands the hard work and dedication necessary to succeed in the pre-health track, and it is comforting to be heard and understood by people facing the same challenges as you. This organization strives to alleviate some of that stress by guiding you on the necessary steps in your chosen career path.

After spending my first two years as a member of the organization, I felt ready to pass on my knowledge and apply for a position on the executive board. I served as the Director of Recruitment and Engagement during my junior year. In this position, I worked on building community relationships among the members throughout the meetings and identified other opportunities to continue building community through the organization of social events.

Now, it is wild to say that I am the President of this incredible organization. I am incredibly thankful for the hard work and dedication those before me put into this program to get it where it is today, and I am so excited to see what this year's group can accomplish. The executive board has been working diligently to be sure we are tackling the needs of our community. This year, the executive committee and I are working towards prioritizing community service events. In prior years, the executive board and members have mentioned that giving back to the community was something we have wanted to prioritize; however, this has been difficult after COVID-19, but I am excited to tackle this challenge. One way to get Pre-Health Terps more involved in the community is through Team IMPACT. 

This past year, I have also decided to become a Team IMPACT fellow and hope my role in this can benefit my leadership within Pre-Health Terps. Team IMPACT is an organization that matches kids with serious illnesses and disabilities with college sports teams, creating lifelong bonds and life-changing outcomes for everyone involved. As a fellow, I aim to educate others about this program and how they can be involved. Team IMPACT has been able to connect student-athletes with the Children’s National Hospital, and this will allow for the Pre-Health Terps and other student-athletes to get involved in the community, too.

Furthermore, with my new role as president, I have a few goals to accomplish within the year. My biggest goal is to connect with other Big Ten institutions or D1 schools that may have similar programs. Connecting with student-athletes from other institutions and committees can significantly benefit and help grow the Pre-Health Terps committee immensely. We can see different implementations, ideas, workshops, and activities other school organizations participate in and bring that back to Maryland. Pre-Health Terps is relatively new for a UMD program, and I would love to take part in continuing to watch it grow. Another goal of mine is to get involved with the freshman student-athletes. In the past, we have mainly geared our focus towards upperclassman student-athletes. If we worked with the Kubasik First Impact Program and the Summer Bridge Program, we could inspire freshman student-athletes who may need to learn what they want to do to explore the options of being in a health profession. Lastly, I hope to bring in more alums to interact with the group. The more our alumni network grows with each year of graduating Terps, the more it allows for an even more enormous opportunity for student-athletes to hear from individuals in different career fields.

I can’t wait for this year and to see all that Pre-Health Terps can accomplish!