I’ve been at UTSA for 26 years. I started off as a teaching assistant. I was teaching anatomy and physiology labs so I’ve been here a really long time. I don’t teach the labs anymore, I teach the lecture courses, but ever since then I have been helping students achieve their goals. One of my main objectives with my students is I want to get them to medical and dental school and make sure that, through my teaching etc.., that they are skillful, intelligent, and academically sound enough to be able to provide really optimal healthcare to their patients. I certainly don’t want to go to medical school but I can totally prepare my students to go out there and do the dirty work.
In 2022 I received the president’s achievement for teaching. There was a huge list of really good people involved and I didn’t even think I would get it. I almost cried and I don’t cry. The students nominated me for the life teaching award and I
thought okay, it’s a student orientated award, and I love it because I do a lot for students. To me this is confirmation that whatever I’m doing with my students is working and its creating a positive environment and future for them.
It took so much effort because I didn’t have anyone in my family to ask. I didn’t know what a credit hour meant when I was an undergrad. I didn’t know how to fill out a financial aid form. I didn’t know how to do those basic things that people take for granted. As a first generation student, we literally don’t know anything about that.
-Dr. Hernandez responded, when asked about his struggles as a first generation graduate.
During my time, the internet was not a thing where I could Zoom my professors. I felt almost embarrassed to continue to ask professors and counselors questions that I felt my fellow students may have already known. I swallowed my pride anyway, so that I could eventually not be scared to ask questions, so that I wouldn’t be like “I don’t know what the hell to do.” It’s a challenge that can be overcome, ignore feeling stupid, navigate through it being persistent.
Now I literally inculcate that into my students. Don’t be scared to ask questions- you have to. If you don’t ask questions, you don’t know what to do and if you don’t know what to do, its going to take you that much longer to get where you want to get. That is a huge challenge for first generation students but its not a challenge that can’t be overcome. Ignore that you’re embarrassed, ignore that you feel stupid or that they might think that you’re student and just asking questions anyways, being persistent, that is the way to navigate the whole college experience.
I have a special place in my heart for students that struggled as much as I did at the beginning. Not because they can’t overcome the struggles, we all have struggles, but because they are first generation. As soon as I realize or they tell me that they are first generation, it triggers me a little. So I’m really receptive for students who tell me, “Dr. H, I’m a first gen and I have no-one to turn to. I have nowhere to go and I really want to go to medical school, I really want to go to dental school” or wherever they want to go. That really motivates me to help them.
Then there is the other side too. There are students that have generations and generations of doctors and dentists in their whole family. But there is still that moment where they are like, “Dr. H, I feel the pressure that I have to be a doctor now because everyone else in my family is.” So there is pressure on both sides and those pressures in general, I can relate to, because those are the pressures that I had. What do I do, I don’t know how to do this, I don’t know how to do the normal things that everyone else seems to know how to do. That again inspires me every day. I’m not going to let that happen to anybody else. It feels horrible from the inside. That angst that you feel when you’re trying to navigate through is something that I don’t want my students to feel.
-Dr. Hernandez when asked about his academic advocacy with “Anatomy of a Future Doctor”
I always thought, why is there no class here to show students how to create a personal statement? Yeah, you can go online, you can google and YouTube it all you want, but the story is yours. You have to create your own narrative, and no-one was teaching these students how to do this.
No-one was teaching students how to actually conduct themselves at a real interview. They were just thrown into the interview, and they were expected to preform; whatever they saw on google or YouTube, that was what they were going to do. But that was insufficient, that was not enough, for students to be really prepared for writing a personal statement or to be a really good interviewee. So in my mind I’m like, this is preposterous, there’s no way that there’s no class to do this for these students. They were discussing the process but not this is how you write a personal statement etc.. So I created the course, “Anatomy of a Future Doctor” and I was going to integrate all of what the student needed to know and refine their skills. That’s exactly what we do in that class and it’s popular.
I have at least 60 emails just trying to get into the class- there is only 26 total spots, so I wasn’t sure how I was going to accommodate all those people. It’s a fun class, its so revealing. You actually get to sign up for a real Mock Interview with real professionals. Not just me. I’m talking about real dentists, real oral surgeons, and real attendings and resident doctors that come and do their community service with us. They give feedback to our students in terms of how their interviews went, so that way when they get to their real interviews, they have actual real practice doing that. It’s been such an awesome class for these students. Now I’m noticing they go off to their interviews so much more prepared and they write personal statements that are polished. That was my main objective for that class.
I’ve mastered the art of motivational speaking, while still ensuring that I don’t sugarcoat anything. I’ve had students come to me absolutely devastated, and leave feeling empowered. I let my students know that I want them to get to where they want to be and that getting them there is my motivation. I point out things that many others won’t communicate to them; things no one has ever told them before. I tell them to put on a smile when they feel defeated; we do not cry in science. We say “this will not happen again and I will come back stronger to reapply!”
No award of any sort is going to compare to the chills I get, I am not exaggerating, when I get an email or text from former students about their professional success. It’s like I’m sharing the moment with them. That is my success right there. There’s a reason why I have a tissue box literally on my desk because they come in so excited they are crying. That is more important to me, in terms of my measure of success. To get these people in means the world to me honestly. I don’t get paid to do any of that beyond teaching the course. All the extra stuff I do because that is my measure of success, when I get that email saying I got accepted into XYZ schools- that’s all I need.
It reminds me that; what I am doing is working, what I am doing is translating to healthcare providers of tomorrow. I would not change it for the world. I am here to not only groom students into future health professionals, but also to groom the next generation of awesome instructors. I do not forget the importance of mentoring the people that will step-in after I am done, to continue a legacy of guidance and leadership. I want whoever takes my spot to continue working for the students.
Dr. H has taught me more than just Anatomy and Physiology; he has been a constant source of support and faith in my abilities, both as a student and as an individual. Through his unwavering encouragement, he has provided numerous opportunities for me to step out of my comfort zone and strive to become the best version of myself. Dr. H will always be a guiding light in my life, and I am committed to paying his kindness forward, giving back to others just as he has done for me.
Thank you for choosing me, in 26 years, no one has ever written about me, approached me and said that they want to show what we do at UTSA. People need to know this, finally we can get the word out that we are badasses at UTSA. We are a place to be reckoned with. I advise from my heart, not speaking from a malicious place.
The way I was made a better person by somebody else, is what I am trying to pass on: keep it going, be kind, be helpful, and be real. Say what you have to say, ask a lot of questions, helping others will help yourself through the spirit of collaboration, teamwork. This is what I find fulfilling.
Photographs: Supplied by Dr. Hernandez