Kendall Hazel | Assistant News Co-Editor

On December 11, senior biology major Blake Laursen accepted a scholarship to attend the Doctor of Chiropractic Medicine program at Cleveland University-Kansas City [KS]. It is a four-year program that culminates in a license to practice in chiropractic medicine.

The Storm Lake native credits his initial interest in science to one of his high school teachers.

“I had a teacher in high shcool who was actually an associate professor from BV [Buena Vista University], and she taught human anatomy and physiology—all the science courses. That’s when I really realized that science was what I wanted to pursue in life,” Laursen said.

Blake’s focus for his first two years at BVU was actually on something other than chiropractics.

“I first came into BV thinking I wanted to do something, obviously, with health, but I was thinking more about helping animals. So, I was leaning towards veterinary medicine. I worked at a vet clinic for a couple of summers and found it wasn’t the best fit for me. That was when I talked to my cousin, and he offered an internship for me,” Laursen said.

Laursen’s cousin, a graduate from Cleveland University’s chiropractic program, owns a chiropractic clinic in Nashville, TN. Laursen accepted the internship and ever since then, his focus has been geared towards chiropractic medicine.

Laursen applied and was accepted to both Palmer University in Davenport and Cleveland University. His decision was an easy one.

“It [Cleveland] was a great fit… the atmosphere was super friendly and everyone was so helpful… They were always checking up on me and asking, ‘How is your application process going?’” Laursen said. “Campus in general is brand new—it’s all state of the art and just amazing.”

To make his decision even easier, Cleveland University offered a $10,000 Doctor of Chiropractics Recruitment Scholarship.

Laursen expressed how influential BV was for him, but he gives most of his credit to Dr. Melinda Coogan.

“Since my freshmen year, Dr. Coogan has been a huge help to me throughout my journey. I became her academic assistant my sophomore year. I can go to her for any questions I have regarding classes, and if I just need to vent or have a little freak-out session because I’m struggling in some of my classes, she is always there to help me get through it,” Laursen said.

In addition to Coogan’s help, Laursen added that Dr. Kristy McClellan’s anatomy class made him, “…really fall in love with it.”

Buena Vista University’s strong reputation was another facet that helped Laursen secure this scholarship and position at Cleveland University.

“I was kind of worried… I wanted to wait to apply because I had really good grades at the time, and I wanted to get my GPA up even higher. Then, they [Cleveland Univeristy] were like, ‘Honestly, you being a biology major and the GPA you have right now—you don’t need to worry about it. We’ve heard about BV and they have tough classes. Their professors really get you ready for graduate school and for the real world,’” Laursen explained.

Laursen offered some advice to BVU’s hopeful graduate students:

“Keep a calm head regardless of anything. Obviously, it is going to be hard, but stick with it. In the end, the reward will be greater than all the stress.”

Photo by Stephanie Steiner