Finalist
Jason Guercio
University of Miami
Senior in Biology
3.94 GPA

Florida native Jason Guercio loves to spend time at the beach, playing football with his friends, or reeling in some fish. However, he doesn’t participate in these activities as frequently as he’d like because hanging out at the beach offers little time for earning a bachelor’s degree at the University of Miami in three years. So, instead of examining his bottle of suntan lotion, this med-school-bound senior has been reviewing his books to maintain his 3.94 GPA and keeping up with his major campus responsibilities.

“I work hard because I’m truly thankful for the position I was put in on this planet,” Guercio says. “I feel like I have an obligation to take advantage of all that I’ve been given.”

Since Guercio, 21, is planning to pursue a career as a physician, he knows the questions that undergraduates have prior to entering med school. In order to open a dialogue between UM’s undergraduate population and the med school students, Guercio founded UM’s Medical Mentoring Program. This program pairs pre-medical undergraduate students with current medical students to provide the pre-meds with a mentor who can encourage and guide them through any snags in their undergraduate careers.

“While studying at the University of Miami, I realized that the traditional pre-medical course didn’t provide ample opportunities for direct contact with the university’s medical school and failed to facilitate pre-medical interaction with medical students and faculty on a regular basis,” Guercio says.

Guercio’s programs created three different planned activities through which mentors and apprentices can interact. The first is a luncheon and information session followed by an in-depth tour of Jackson Memorial Hospital, the university’s teaching hospital, and the medical school. The pair gets together again for a lunch meeting with the other duos during the second event. The program wraps up after the third activity with a reception attended by all mentors, novices, and the medical school’s faculty and staff. Between program events, the pair is in contact with each other to ensure that they’re forming a personal connection.

Guercio’s mentoring program came in under budget its first year, partly because he petitioned Miami-Dade Transit to donate MetroRail passes for all three events. Fifty-seven pre-medical and medical students attended the first event, and the numbers increased during the second event. Although Guercio graduates this year, his mentoring program will serve as his legacy to UM. However, instead of one person organizing the entire program, Guercio is passing on the reins to several different people who will coordinate the activities.

“Jason was a part of a panel in front of our board of trustees back in the fall that I was asked to put together so they could talk about the undergraduate experience. A number of students actually commented on Jason’s mentoring program without being asked to,” says Richard Walker, assistant vice president for student affairs. “He took two different worlds, the undergraduate campus and the medical campus, and really meshed them together very well to leave a legacy that will last.”

Because of his high caliber in academics and service to his community, many different honor societies have offered Guercio membership into their prestigious organizations. He’s currently a member of Theta Alpha Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, Mortar Board, Omicron Delta Kappa, Golden Key International Honour Society, and Phi Beta Kappa.  He was also an honorable mention winner for the 2003 Florida College Student of the Year Awards.

“Jason is an exceptional leader at UM. He’s served as SG chief of staff, been active in many student organizations, and always completes projects on time,” says Patricia A. Whitely, vice president for student affairs. “He has a quite unassuming leadership style and has served as a great role model for other students.”

Sigma Phi Epsilon has played a huge part in Guercio’s life since his freshman year at UM. In recognition of his dedication and loyalty to his fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon gave Guercio the Fall Outstanding New Member Award in 2001. That same year, the Inter-Fraternity Council named him their New Member of the Year.

When Jason was named Golden Key’s Member of the Semester for spring 2003, the society awarded him a scholarship paying for a Kaplan Test Preparation Course, a maximum value of $1,349. Since he had already signed up to take the MCAT later that month, Guercio decided to donate the scholarship to a fraternity brother.

In June of 2003, Guercio embarked on a 10-day tour of Greece planned by his fraternity’s national headquarters. He beat out other applicants for one of the 14 spots available in the Balanced Man Quest to Greece Scholarship contest.

“The tour challenged the scholarship recipients to gain a first-hand appreciation for the ancient Greek origins of the ideals of the American college fraternity. Our interaction with Greek locals and our total immersion in historic Geek culture again challenged me to broaden my range of cross-cultural understanding and experience,” Guercio says.

He also served as a Rho Alpha in the fall of 2003 to help recruit potential fraternity members into the Greek community and aid them through the recruitment process.

Guercio makes sure that the members of his fraternity are on track to attain the Epsilon and Brother Mentor Challenges, the two highest levels of membership in the undergraduate chapter. He records their advancements and authorizes completion of the awards.

Guercio serves as the second-ever undergraduate representative to the National Ritual and Values Committee, headed by the National Chaplain. The committee meets twice a year at the fraternity’s headquarters in Richmond, Va. for a weekend to discuss changes to the initiation ritual that will be voted on at one of the bi-annual national conventions. Since modern language changes so rapidly, the group is responsible for continuously updating the initiation ritual. As part of his duties to the committee, Guercio regularly contributes articles on the importance of the ritual’s values in the fraternity’s national publication, The SigEp Journal. He also serves as a faculty member at Carlson Leadership Academies, national academies directly affiliated with Sigma Phi Epsilon that train officers in leadership development twice a year.

“The committee is about maintaining the relevance of the process of joining and what the fraternity teaches in terms of how you’re supposed to live your life after you become a member for the rest of your life,” Guercio says. “The fraternity really teaches you a way of life based on cardinal principles of virtue, diligence, and brotherly love. Those are the things that we want to be very apparent.”

Some people get so wrapped up in their Greek organization that their activities become limited to only that fraternity. Guercio currently serves as chief of staff, internal affairs, under an SG president who is a SigEp. However, Guercio was originally recruited to join SG by then-president Mike Johnson who wasn’t in his fraternity.

“Mike was a Pike and I am a SigEp. But, Mike and I were friends. I was quite flattered,” Guercio says. “I was particularly impressed that Mike wanted to recruit me because he saw potential in me and didn’t go for someone in his own fraternity but went for someone that he thought would really do the job.”

As the only person to serve two terms as the undergraduate SG chief of staff, internal affairs, Guercio is currently serving his last term.

“I took the position and ran with it and made it a project-oriented position. I’m very happy with the changes that I’ve made as chief of staff,” Guercio says.  “Instead of running for student body president, I decided to leave the chief of staff position as a more serious position when I left.”

This role requires him to act as the SG president’s representative on a number of committees and report the events back to him. Along with his counterpart in external affairs, Guercio met with the new university librarian to come up with ideas on increasing the number of student volunteers helping with the university’s new library. He volunteered to serve as a greeter at the President’s Parents Brunch and the President’s New Students Picnic this fall. The university provost also chose Guercio as one of only two students to speak in front of a group of legislators and educators from Egypt about UM’s political activism on campus.

“Jason’s style of leadership is very quiet and unassuming, yet very effective. He doesn’t always have to be the chief,” Walker says. “He understands the importance of assuming both a key leadership role in an organization as well as the role of a contributing member. Through his exceptional leadership skills, he’s able to play either role effectively.”

He’s maintained his fraternity and SG commitments while pushing forward at top speed, academically.

“Based on my observations of and interactions with Jason, I can affirm that he’s able to manage his time well and to keep a healthy perspective on life even when under considerable pressure,” says Stephen Sapp, professor and chairman of religious studies.

Originally, Guercio entered a six-year program that would allow him to graduate at its conclusion with his bachelor’s degree and M.D. He decided not to continue the program but still reaps the benefits of his packed workload by graduating in three years. Guercio plans to attend a school that has a program combining an M.B.A with medical school.

“Jason sees it as he needs to understand how to manage a practice. So, on a business perspective, he wants the balance. You’ve got lots of doctors who don’t understand the business role of it, and then you’ve got the reverse; those who are only after the business role of it. I think that he truly sees it as a balance,” Walker says.

Even though he hasn’t graduated med school yet, Guercio is already thinking of a future career larger then a single practice—he hopes to one day be a hospital administrator.

“To be a good physician, you have to be a well-rounded person. I want to be a guy with a commitment to my family and a commitment to my patients, because wanting to be a hospital administrator is about wanting to make a difference in the medical field on a larger scale than a single operating physician can do. I want to be a guy who’s making big changes in the medical field,” says Guercio. He plans to attend the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in the fall.

Scholarships cover almost three-quarters of Guercio’s college expenses. He received the Isaac Bashevis Singer Full Merit Scholarship, Florida Academic Scholars, Florida Resident Access Grant, and the Top Scholars Award.  His summer jobs and aid from his parents cover the rest. —JT

Contact Guercio at j.guercio@umiami.edu.