During just such a trip the summer after her sophomore year at Amherst, Hurtado-Rogers worked as an intern with the Culture Health and Service Program. The program is open to Five-College students and allows pre-medical students to travel and complete medical research internships.
"I had really wanted to take part in the program for a long time, and so I went to the director after my freshman year," said Hurtado-Rogers. "He thought it was too daunting for me, but I was persistent and came back the next summer. I just thought, 'I'm so ready to do this.'" Hurtado-Rogers worked at the Hispanic Health Council in Cuernavaca, Mexico that summer, doing AIDS research. "I definitely learned a lot, both in terms of the actual research I was doing, and otherwise," she said.
During her sophomore year at Amherst, Hurtado-Rogers got a jump start on her plans to go to medical school. She applied for admission to the Humanities and Medical Program at Mount Sinai Medical School in New York and was accepted then, two years early. Hurtado-Rogers' relief at her early acceptance to such a prestigious school was balanced by the rigorous program guidelines. Her matriculation at Mount Sanai was contingent on passing a courseload of organic chemistry and physics during the summer. "At the time I often thought, 'What am I doing?'" Hurtado-Rogers said. "But it turned out to be not that bad."
The program allowed Hurtado-Rogers to take more humanities classes at Amherst, while devoting her summers to pre-med work. "They want students to be able to take advantage of the liberal arts education while preparing for med school, so that they'll have more well-rounded students," Hurtado-Rogers explained.
Upon entering the program, Hurtado-Rogers initially encountered the indecision and doubt that many students face when coming to the realization that they are beginning their life's work. "It was good that I was able to talk to medical students about their experiences, and to make sure that this is really what I want to be doing," she said.
"Every week," she said, "I'd come home and think either 'No, this isn't what I want to do!' or 'I love this so much!'" She eventually sided with the latter opinion and is excited about going on to become a doctor after graduation.
Hurtado-Rogers also managed to use her liberal arts education and her cultural background in conjunction with her newfound medical knowledge. There was a dire need for bilingual doctors in the area where she stayed during her summer at Mount Sinai, and Hurtado-Rogers' background allowed her to help out. "The school is on the border of Spanish Harlem, and there were no doctors there that spoke Spanish," she said. "They were constantly asking, 'Does anyone here speak Spanish?'" Wherever she finds herself working in the future, Hurtado-Rogers hopes that she will end up in a community like Spanish Harlem, where she can use her unique combination of talents in both medicine and language.
Education put to the test
Hurtado-Rogers deferred matriculation to medical school for a year, and in that time she plans to travel to Brazil. She will leave late this August and return next August. During her time in Brazil, she will be working in the city of Bahia with a small organization that works for community improvement. "I'll be interning with a group of women who run a not-for-profit organization there. I suppose you could call it community service," she said.
Hurtado-Rogers noted cultural differences between the organization of her own education and the educational timetable in Mexico. "In Mexico, it's hard to explain to people why I'm not in medical school already, since it begins right after high school there," she said.
In addition to her ambitious plans in the medical field, Hurtado-Rogers has taken advantage of the liberal arts education at Amherst, double majoring in Spanish and anthropology during her four years in college. Examining the relationship between her current interests and studies, and how those interests may affect her capacity in medicine, she said, "I think that anthropology is just such a great thing to take with you to medical school. I love the way it helps me look at things holistically. So many doctors will just examine a patient, focusing on what's wrong with them without considering the whole person. I really want to remember the whole approach to dealing with people, and anthropology helps me do that."
Hurtado-Rogers also appreciates how her course of study in Spanish has helped her to refine her language skills. She studied abroad for a semester in Spain her junior year, and she believes that her time in Spain afforded her the opportunity to sharpen her Spanish skills.
One of Hurtado-Rogers' advisors, Professor of Spanish Ilan Stavans, sang her praises: "[Hurtado-Rogers] is an extraordinary student: sharp, intuitive, vastly intelligent, capable of insight and deep reflection, patient with others, and eager to learn not only by absorbing knowledge but by turning it into action," he said. "I'm convinced she will stamp her mark in the world at large. I'm proud to have had her around, and I look forward to seeing promise become reality." Stavans added that he has published a short piece of Hurtado-Rogers' writing in the quarterly HOPSCOTCH. Said Stavans, "Her literary style is endearing … her interest in language and culture as kaleidoscopes to understand society are an enviable quality."
Breaking new ground
Besides her strong interest in medicine, Hurtado-Rogers found herself involved in other endeavors at Amherst. "I was really involved with dance in high school, because I thought 'I'd better do this now because I won't be able to when I get to college," said Hurtado-Rogers. She was disappointed at the prospect of having to give up her love of dance when she entered college and was likewise disappointed at the complete dearth of dance classes offered at the College. Her freshman year, there were no dance classes in the curriculum, and there still are virtually none, save one modern dance and once technique class. "I ended up having to take dance classes off-campus," Hurtado-Rogers said.
It became clear to several dancers on campus that some initiative was needed to remedy the lack of dance opportunities at Amherst. But only certain students actually took action: last year, before Hurtado-Rogers left to study abroad, she and Erzsi Palko '02 teamed up to write the budget for the newly formed Amherst Dance group. Alissa Wilson '00, Tammy Venit '00 and Amanda Thomas '00 had founded the group before their graduation, and students like Hurtado-Rogers have helped it to continue and thrive in the Amherst community.
"Our goal is to support all dance forms by bringing people with similar interests into contact with each other and working together to facilitate performance opportunities," reads the mission statement for Amherst Dance. "Perhaps, in the future, there will be more spaces and more opportunities on campus for dancers at Amherst College."
"I don't think I'll dance much after college … but I'll probably still dance as a hobby on the side," Hurtado-Rogers said. As her dance career at Amherst came to a close, Hurtado-Rogers performed in senior Jenna Owens' thesis in April. The thesis was a full-length ballet adaptation of Edmund Spenser's poem "The Faerie Queen." The production was entitled "Traveler" and incorporated modern dance and traditional ballet, including four Amherst dancers plus nine other student dancers from the Five Colleges.
South-ern living
In addition to her other work at the College, Hurtado-Rogers has also sacrificed living with her friends during her last year here to be a Resident Counselor (RC). She lived in South College her own freshman year and returned to the building as the second floor RC. "I love my residents," she said of her experiences living with freshmen this year. "I love the new energy that living on a freshman floor gives you. When you're around upperclassmen, they'll always complain and say things like, 'Oh, I just read this book for the third time,' but the freshmen are having all these new experiences … it's very exciting. Also, I had had a bunch of friends who had been RCs, and just thought 'I really want to do this.'"
Her residents have likewise had an overwhelmingly positive experience living with Hurtado-Rogers. "She's the best RC ever," said Alex Viehman '04. Sara's effusively friendly personality has been apparent to all during her time at Amherst, and so it is no surprise that her residents recognize her cheerful nature as well. "[Hurtado-Rogers] is just one of the nicest people here at Amherst; she always seems to greet you with a laugh and a smile," said Eric Osborne '04.
Sara impresses her peers, residents and professors with her intelligence, modesty and confident nature. It is no wonder to anyone who has met her why she will be so sorely missed on campus after graduation. "Sara is a gem of a student: serious, sincere and extremely smart … I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching her," said Professor of Anthropology Deborah Gewertz. "Often at this time of year, when many of us feel alienated from the products of our labors, it's students like Sara who keep us going."