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A former security guard has returned to the hospital where he once worked, but this time as a medical student.
Eleven years ago, Russell Ledet, 34, was a security guard at Baton Rouge General Medical Center, studying chemistry on flashcards on his shift.
Now the ex-officer of the Navy has a PhD and is working on a joint MD / MBA at Tulane University in his home state of Louisiana.
“It’s a dream come true,” he told the BBC.
His story of success in whole circus has made headlines, about a year after he came to the national attention for organizing a photo of 15 black fellow students for the former slave quarters at Whitney Plantation, a slavery museum in Louisiana .
The photo went viral, and since then he has set up a company called The 15 White Coats, whose mission is to raise money for medical students for minorities. She also sent poster-sized copies of the photo to schools in the U.S. to inspire the next generation of black doctors.
“If you are currently asking a black child what a doctor looks like, they will tell you a white man. To change that, they were shown images that correspond to reality,” Mr said. Led by the BBC.
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The 15 White coats
A photo of 15 black fellow students in front of the former slave quarters at Whitney Plantation went viral
Growing up in Lake Charles, Louisiana with a single mother, Mr Ledet never thought he would go to university, only earn a PhD in molecular oncology rather than go to medical school.
As a child, he recalls dumpsters combing with his sister to find food.
“I thought growing up only rich people going to college,” he says.
He enrolled in high school in the Navy because it “was a way out.”
It was in the Army, where he says he began to meet people who showed him that success was possible – first in Washington, DC and then in Pensacola, Florida, where he studied to be a military cryptological technician.
“I started to realize that the world was more than where I was,” he says.
In Pensacola, he met his wife, who he says was instrumental in encouraging him to get an education.
“My wife was like ‘you’re bad as hell, you just do not know yet,’ ‘he recalls.
After several trips abroad, he left the Navy so he and his wife could arrange and start a family. They moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 2009, where he enrolled to study at Southern University and A&M College, a historic black college.
Although he had a full scholarship, he still had to work full time to get to the ends, so he began working as a security guard at Baton Rouge General Medical Center. He would attend daytime classes, and work from late afternoon to midnight, using every downtime to do his homework.
On Saturdays after completing his shift, he would drive all night to Pensacola, where he was stationed as a reservist.
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In the middle of the half, his first daughter was born, who put extra pressure on him to complete his degree and get a better paying job.
He went on to pursue a PhD at New York University in molecular oncology.
“I had already completed this game, and I thought: I can do anything. The world became my oyster,” he says.
His second daughter was born on February 20, 2018 – the same day he received the news that he was accepted to Tulane University School of Medicine with a full scholarship.
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Since returning to Baton Rouge General Medical Center in July as a medical student, he has reconnected with his old boss, who Mr Ledet says helped him by not shooting him when he was caught studying organic chemistry during his shift.
Mr Ledet says he wants to go to medical school in pediatrics and psychiatry so he can help increase access to mental health care in poor communities.
He hopes his success will inspire other young African Americans.
“Where I come from, no one tells you that doing things in the world can make an impact,” he says. “If no one tells you that, you do not know. But now that I know, I can tell the children.”
