A University of Toledo medical student is hoping to help future medical students across the country the same way he’s now helping current students in Toledo.
John Luckoski, 24, recently returned from a video-making workshop in Mountain View, California, after winning an academic contest sponsored by Khan Academy, a nonprofit organization that offers free educational videos.
The contest was part of an initiative to provide free, online resources for students preparing for the revised Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) to be administered in 2015.
“It was sort of like a boot camp for making videos,” Luckoski said. “It was pretty intense. But as tough as it was, I’m really glad I went. I learned so much. Now I feel like I have to go back and fix all [my old videos].”
When he entered the contest, the Dayton area native, a volunteer tutor at the Academic Enrichment Center (AEC) on UT’s Health Sciences campus, was working on an initiative to create a library of tutorial videos on biochemistry, cellular and molecular biology, genetics and more for first-year medical students.
“When I got an email about the contest, it seemed right in line with what I had already been doing,” Luckoski said.
Twelve winners were selected in the video contest and 20 winners were selected in a question-writing competition. Luckoski was one of only two who won both contests.
Luckoski started making videos with his cellphone and drawing paper. Now he has a Macbook laptop, microphone and drawing tablet from AEC.
He plans to specialize in trauma surgery because he’s “drawn to intensity,” he said.
However, his experience at AEC made him realize he also wants to teach.
“There’s a limited number of lives I could save in my own life span, but if I get to teach students how to take care of people, I feel like that perpetuates my ability to help others far beyond what I could do with my own two hands,” Luckoski said in a news release.
“I’m just thrilled for him,” said AEC Director Joni Trempe. “He put the hard work in and he deserves the award.
“As an educator, to see someone find something they’re so passionate about, it’s great. A year ago, he would never have thought this was something he would be passionate about. Now he sees it as part of his medical future.”
