Anyone who decides to go to medical school earns our highest admiration for pursuing a lifelong endeavor to cure disease, aide the suffering and make breakthroughs. But med school's tough enough as it is, so it helps when you have friends from the same community who are there for you.

"Chalan Amte roughly translates in Chamorro to 'A pathway to healing'," noted Kai Akimoto, currently in his third year studying medicine at the University of Minnesota. "And that's what we want to create – not just a pathway to medical school and for medical training, but also a pathway for once they get training, how can we give back to our community?"

And Loma Linda University medical student Keina Yoo, also in her third year, added, "Being from the island, you're able to give such a unique perspective to your med school application and some sort of healthcare to the island. And I think that's something very impactful and very powerful and that's something we want to inspire our prospective doctors to practice."

Chalan Amte is an advisory group run by tenured healthcare professionals and current med students as a support network to ease the process of preparing for the rigors of becoming a doctor. Which includes the always-fun MCAT exam. "It doesn't get easier after the MCAT," admitted Austin Kim, home on holiday break from his second year at the University of Maryland. "But, as your prepare, you ready yourself for what's to come, until you become better at managing your time and developing better study strategies and interacting with people."

Preparation is key and physicians generally don't like surprises, so the members held a free workshop with pre-med students to break down the decisions to be made and hurdles to expect. Medical College of Wisconsin third-year student Maria Sgro, who just joined Chalan Amte while back on island for Christmas, said the group is here for those "who our own who are willing to come back and fight for our people. And who are willing yo stay here, who know the culture, who know the families and understand the challenges and the burdens and the challenges that we go through."

And their innovative approach is one that hopefully other pursuits emulate in their industries, like for law school, engineering, business or higher education.

But most future doctors tend to be multidimensional overachievers, so diversity is encouraged.

Chalan Amte's mentorship is building community, enriching Guam's system of care workforce, and making themselves and those right behind them, better doctors. "We all are very passionate and inspired to come back and to serve Guam as doctors. We know that we're not going to do it alone and that no one can do it alone because it's so difficult.  

"So we want to empower anyone else who's willing to bear it to be able to come back, as well."