Even after graduation, alums carry on Baylor spirit of service

Graduate students — particularly those in intensely competitive fields like law and medicine — could be excused if they didn’t find time for service activities while working on their degrees. But that’s not the case with Baylor Bears. Last fall, we wrote about how many Baylor law students give up their lunchtimes each week to meet with and mentor local elementary school students. Then this spring, we got word of another great example of that same dedication to serving others.

Greg Valentine, BS ’08, has carried that Baylor spirit of service on to med school. As a third-year student at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Valentine (pictured far right) still finds time to average 20 hours a week or more on community projects. In 2009, he was named an “Unsung Hero” by the Galveston County Daily News for his work after Hurricane Ike and his involvement in medical missions.

He has helped launch Hands and Feet Medical Missions, a program which sends UTMB students to the Texas-Mexico border to perform free medical services, and the Sir William Osler Name That Book Competition, in which UTMB students mentor local third- and fourth-graders in Galveston leading up to a literary game show-style competition. Of course, Valentine is no slouch in the classroom, either; last year he was named one of UTMB’s Osler Student Scholars and given a three-year, $10,000-per-year scholarship. What a great Baylor representative!

Sic ’em, Greg!