Philip Gorecki ’10 arrived at New Britain General Hospital on a Friday night in 2006, hurrying to his volunteer position as an emergency room greeter. Hospital beds rumbled down the hallway. EKG machines beeped. Car wreck victims moaned in pain.
But one voice dominated the ER.
A man in a wheelchair was blocking the triage nurse’s station and berating a security guard. The guard was threatening to have the man arrested, but his threat fell on uncomprehending ears: the man did not speak English.
The man was speaking in Gorecki’s native language, though – Polish. Born in Krakow and raised in Connecticut, Gorecki, then a senior at New Britain High School, knew he could help. He learned that the man had been waiting in pain for two hours, and he reassured him that he would see the nurse soon.
“I was glad that I played a role in making his stint at the hospital a little more comfortable,” Gorecki says. “It was my duty to help him.”
That sense of responsibility revised his college plans. In high school, Gorecki wanted to become an engineer. But he changed his mind as a result of his volunteer work, and was accepted to UConn’s Combined Program in Medicine as a freshman in 2006.
“I liked the team atmosphere of engineering,” Gorecki says, “but I also liked the interpersonal part of the hospital.”
His desire to pursue medicine grew stronger when he participated in the College Fellowship Program at the UConn School of Medicine.
His fellowship research at the School of Medicine intrigued him, so Gorecki decided to apply for the University Scholar Program at the beginning of his junior year. The program gave him a chance to pursue a two-year project studying agricultural disease and its effect on the economy. He had, in essence, created his own academic path.
Gorecki still left room for extracurricular activities, though. As president of Honors Council, he led meetings, planned events, and motivated members. As program director for UConn’s Homelessness Project, he recruited volunteers. He also led incoming freshmen as an orientation leader, becoming one of the most recognizable faces on campus.
Scholarship support made a difference for him. “I was able to take my mind off managing my finances and focus purely on what I’ve come to view college as – an opportunity for an education,” Gorecki says.
He earned the John and Valerie Rowe Health Professions Scholarship, the Hinda Fisher Scholarship, the Alan Bernstein Memorial Award, and many others. Gorecki had the opportunity to meet one of his scholarship donors, Dr. Michael Bernstein, at an Honors Program banquet. “I got to understand the meaning behind the scholarship and why he set it up in memory of his dad,” Gorecki says.
Last May, Gorecki graduated as an Honors Scholar with a rare dual degree in molecular and cellular biology and economics. He also finished his University Scholar project. That research will help him stand out at the UConn School of Medicine this fall, where he hopes to train as an orthopedic surgeon. Until then, Gorecki is doing research at the UConn Health Center on a drug treatment for uveitis, the third leading cause of blindness in the United States.
Before that fateful Friday four years ago, college applications were at the front of Gorecki’s mind. But after helping the man in the ER that night, he began to understand what he wanted to do with his life.
“You realize how important it is for the patient to get back to 100 percent, get back to their families, and live their day-to-day lives,” he says. “If I can assist in some way to make this happen, it’s something I really want to do.”
For more information about supporting the UConn Health Center, please contact the UConn Foundation’s Office of Development and Alumni Relations in Farmington.
