‘Excited,’ ‘relieved’: Med school students celebrate Match Day in BG
Published 6:00 am Saturday, March 22, 2025
Darayon Moore pins her photo to the map as UK College of Medicine-Bowling Green students learned where they’ll be taking their medical degrees as new doctors during the annual “Match Day” celebration at La Gala in Bowling Green Friday.
Kent Lewis, Student Program Specialist, with the UK College of Medicine-Bowling Green Campus welcomes the attendees to Match Day. UK College of Medicine-Bowling Green students learned where they'll be taking their medical degrees as new doctors during the annual "Match Day" celebration at La Gala in Bowling Green, March 21, 2025. A medical school tradition, the Match Day ceremonies take place simultaneously at noon Eastern Daylight Time the same day every year at medical schools across the country. The National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) pairs the wishes of the students with the needs of hospitals’ residency programs. Match Day is for students in the graduating class to announce the location of their residency program, celebrate their futures as doctors and reflect on the past four years at the University of Kentucky. (Photo by Joe Imel)
UK College of Medicine-Bowling Green students learned where they’ll be taking their medical degrees as new doctors during the annual “Match Day” celebration at La Gala in Bowling Green Friday.
UK College of Medicine-Bowling Green students learned where they’ll be taking their medical degrees as new doctors during the annual “Match Day” celebration Friday.
UK College of Medicine-Bowling Green students learned where they'll be taking their medical degrees as new doctors during the annual "Match Day" celebration at La Gala in Bowling Green, March 21, 2025. A medical school tradition, the Match Day ceremonies take place simultaneously at noon Eastern Daylight Time the same day every year at medical schools across the country. The National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) pairs the wishes of the students with the needs of hospitals’ residency programs. Match Day is for students in the graduating class to announce the location of their residency program, celebrate their futures as doctors and reflect on the past four years at the University of Kentucky. (Photo by Joe Imel)
UK College of Medicine-Bowling Green students learned where they'll be taking their medical degrees as new doctors during the annual "Match Day" celebration at La Gala in Bowling Green, March 21, 2025. A medical school tradition, the Match Day ceremonies take place simultaneously at noon Eastern Daylight Time the same day every year at medical schools across the country. The National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) pairs the wishes of the students with the needs of hospitals’ residency programs. Match Day is for students in the graduating class to announce the location of their residency program, celebrate their futures as doctors and reflect on the past four years at the University of Kentucky. (Photo by Joe Imel)
UK College of Medicine-Bowling Green students learned where they'll be taking their medical degrees as new doctors during the annual "Match Day" celebration at La Gala in Bowling Green, March 21, 2025. A medical school tradition, the Match Day ceremonies take place simultaneously at noon Eastern Daylight Time the same day every year at medical schools across the country. The National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) pairs the wishes of the students with the needs of hospitals’ residency programs. Match Day is for students in the graduating class to announce the location of their residency program, celebrate their futures as doctors and reflect on the past four years at the University of Kentucky. (Photo by Joe Imel)
UK College of Medicine-Bowling Green students learned where they'll be taking their medical degrees as new doctors during the annual "Match Day" celebration at La Gala in Bowling Green, March 21, 2025. A medical school tradition, the Match Day ceremonies take place simultaneously at noon Eastern Daylight Time the same day every year at medical schools across the country. The National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) pairs the wishes of the students with the needs of hospitals’ residency programs. Match Day is for students in the graduating class to announce the location of their residency program, celebrate their futures as doctors and reflect on the past four years at the University of Kentucky. (Photo by Joe Imel)
UK College of Medicine-Bowling Green students learned where they'll be taking their medical degrees as new doctors during the annual "Match Day" celebration at La Gala in Bowling Green, March 21, 2025. A medical school tradition, the Match Day ceremonies take place simultaneously at noon Eastern Daylight Time the same day every year at medical schools across the country. The National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) pairs the wishes of the students with the needs of hospitals’ residency programs. Match Day is for students in the graduating class to announce the location of their residency program, celebrate their futures as doctors and reflect on the past four years at the University of Kentucky. (Photo by Joe Imel)
UK College of Medicine-Bowling Green students learned where they'll be taking their medical degrees as new doctors during the annual "Match Day" celebration at La Gala in Bowling Green, March 21, 2025. A medical school tradition, the Match Day ceremonies take place simultaneously at noon Eastern Daylight Time the same day every year at medical schools across the country. The National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) pairs the wishes of the students with the needs of hospitals’ residency programs. Match Day is for students in the graduating class to announce the location of their residency program, celebrate their futures as doctors and reflect on the past four years at the University of Kentucky. (Photo by Joe Imel)
UK College of Medicine-Bowling Green students learned where they'll be taking their medical degrees as new doctors during the annual "Match Day" celebration at La Gala in Bowling Green, March 21, 2025. A medical school tradition, the Match Day ceremonies take place simultaneously at noon Eastern Daylight Time the same day every year at medical schools across the country. The National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) pairs the wishes of the students with the needs of hospitals’ residency programs. Match Day is for students in the graduating class to announce the location of their residency program, celebrate their futures as doctors and reflect on the past four years at the University of Kentucky. (Photo by Joe Imel)
UK College of Medicine-Bowling Green students learned where they'll be taking their medical degrees as new doctors during the annual "Match Day" celebration at La Gala in Bowling Green, March 21, 2025. A medical school tradition, the Match Day ceremonies take place simultaneously at noon Eastern Daylight Time the same day every year at medical schools across the country. The National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) pairs the wishes of the students with the needs of hospitals’ residency programs. Match Day is for students in the graduating class to announce the location of their residency program, celebrate their futures as doctors and reflect on the past four years at the University of Kentucky. (Photo by Joe Imel)
UK College of Medicine-Bowling Green students learned where they'll be taking their medical degrees as new doctors during the annual "Match Day" celebration at La Gala in Bowling Green, March 21, 2025. A medical school tradition, the Match Day ceremonies take place simultaneously at noon Eastern Daylight Time the same day every year at medical schools across the country. The National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) pairs the wishes of the students with the needs of hospitals’ residency programs. Match Day is for students in the graduating class to announce the location of their residency program, celebrate their futures as doctors and reflect on the past four years at the University of Kentucky. (Photo by Joe Imel)
UK College of Medicine-Bowling Green students learned where they'll be taking their medical degrees as new doctors during the annual "Match Day" celebration at La Gala in Bowling Green, March 21, 2025. A medical school tradition, the Match Day ceremonies take place simultaneously at noon Eastern Daylight Time the same day every year at medical schools across the country. The National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) pairs the wishes of the students with the needs of hospitals’ residency programs. Match Day is for students in the graduating class to announce the location of their residency program, celebrate their futures as doctors and reflect on the past four years at the University of Kentucky. (Photo by Joe Imel)
UK College of Medicine-Bowling Green students learned where they'll be taking their medical degrees as new doctors during the annual "Match Day" celebration at La Gala in Bowling Green, March 21, 2025. A medical school tradition, the Match Day ceremonies take place simultaneously at noon Eastern Daylight Time the same day every year at medical schools across the country. The National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) pairs the wishes of the students with the needs of hospitals’ residency programs. Match Day is for students in the graduating class to announce the location of their residency program, celebrate their futures as doctors and reflect on the past four years at the University of Kentucky. (Photo by Joe Imel)
UK College of Medicine-Bowling Green students learned where they'll be taking their medical degrees as new doctors during the annual "Match Day" celebration at La Gala in Bowling Green, March 21, 2025. A medical school tradition, the Match Day ceremonies take place simultaneously at noon Eastern Daylight Time the same day every year at medical schools across the country. The National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) pairs the wishes of the students with the needs of hospitals’ residency programs. Match Day is for students in the graduating class to announce the location of their residency program, celebrate their futures as doctors and reflect on the past four years at the University of Kentucky. (Photo by Joe Imel)
UK College of Medicine-Bowling Green students learned where they'll be taking their medical degrees as new doctors during the annual "Match Day" celebration at La Gala in Bowling Green, March 21, 2025. A medical school tradition, the Match Day ceremonies take place simultaneously at noon Eastern Daylight Time the same day every year at medical schools across the country. The National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) pairs the wishes of the students with the needs of hospitals’ residency programs. Match Day is for students in the graduating class to announce the location of their residency program, celebrate their futures as doctors and reflect on the past four years at the University of Kentucky. (Photo by Joe Imel)
UK College of Medicine-Bowling Green students learned where they'll be taking their medical degrees as new doctors during the annual "Match Day" celebration at La Gala in Bowling Green, March 21, 2025. A medical school tradition, the Match Day ceremonies take place simultaneously at noon Eastern Daylight Time the same day every year at medical schools across the country. The National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) pairs the wishes of the students with the needs of hospitals’ residency programs. Match Day is for students in the graduating class to announce the location of their residency program, celebrate their futures as doctors and reflect on the past four years at the University of Kentucky. (Photo by Joe Imel)
BY DAVID MAMARIL HOROWITZ
david.horowitz@bgdailynews.com
A countdown from 10 sounded across the circle of flags at Circus Square Park. Along the perimeter stood some 26 fourth-year students from University of Kentucky College of Medicine’s Bowling Green Campus — with them, their loved ones, their friends, and members of the UKCOM community.
All waited in anticipation — students, especially, envelopes in hand.
At 11 a.m., they tore the envelopes open to reveal their upcoming residencies — joining medical school students across the U.S. for the medical school tradition of Match Day, where students nationwide learn where they’ll spend their residencies serving communities.
“It’s a culmination of their very earliest days of education … They started off as preschoolers and kindergarteners, and now they’ve gone all the way up, graduated high school, graduated college, and this is the pinnacle of their educational experience and the launch of their new careers,” said Kent Lewis, UKCOM-Bowling Green’s student program specialist and communications associate. “Today, they find out what kind of doctors they’re going to be officially and where they’re going to spend the next three to five years to train in that particular specialty, so then, they can take care of the community.”
Fourth-year medical school students apply to residency in fall, and in spring they rank residencies they interview at based on interest; likewise, residency programs rank students, said Caleb Sedlak, a UKCOM-Bowling Green third-year student and a member of the college’s Match Day Committee.
These rankings go into a computer program that spits out results trying to get students and residencies the best pairings, he said. Students were notified Monday whether they matched; those who didn’t match had until Thursday to try to find a match among the open positions.
Challee Shartzer learned she’ll spend her residency in child neurology at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.
“I’m excited,” she said. “I’m just relieved, relieved that it’s over and now I know …
They’re the number three in the nation for child neurology, so I knew I could receive really great training there, and also the people were just amazing, and they care about those kids so much.”
She’s specialized in child neurology to help kids who have strokes and conditions like epilepsy and cerebral palsy. Shartzer has especially developed an interest in neurology and OB-GYN — and child neurology, she said, was in a way the best of all worlds.
“I get to work with the babies, and I also get to work with people with different neurological disorders — and there’s a huge deficit in care for child neurology,” she said.
Darayon Moore learned she’d been accepted at the University of Texas Medical School in Houston for a residency in anesthesia.
“Twelve years of schooling … Four of undergrad, four of medical school, and then, depending upon where you go for residency, it differs … but also (…), you have to have some type of self drive, because there’s a lot of times and points where I thought I couldn’t do it or I wanted to give up — and this is just proof that if you put your mind to it, if you work hard, anything is possible,” she said.
Key motivators, she added, have been her church family, her fiancé and her family — “keeping God first and just following His direction,” she said.
Georgia Hoffman matched with Memorial Healthcare System, in Hollywood, Florida, for a general surgery residency.
“I feel relieved, also nervous,” Hoffman said. “It’s going to be a big move for me. I don’t really have family close to there, but I was looking for a change of scenery, and I think the beach is a pretty good place to do it.”
Hoffman added that accompanying her happiness is some mourning about leaving Bowling Green, where she’s grown to love the people she’s worked with.
But also, she’s thrilled.
“I’m just taking it in,” she said.
