Artie Equihua ’20 wasn’t sure he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps to Wabash, but he knew if he did, life at and after Wabash would provide the experiences and connections to set him up for success.
“I wasn’t going to attend Wabash, because people expected me to,” says Equihua. “I wanted to carve my own path, do my own thing. When I matured a little bit, I realized I could still carve my own path through Wabash, because it gives you so many different ways and opportunities to make that experience your own.
“I knew I would be leaving a better version of myself than when I came,” the third-year medical student at Marian University says. “I knew whatever I wanted to do, I could pursue it. As long as I chose Wabash, it would give me resources to use and a network to achieve those goals.”
The courses Equihua took as a biology major set him on a solid academic foundation. 
“I minored in Dr. (Heidi) Walsh,” Equihua says with a laugh. “I took enough Dr. Walsh (biology) classes where she could be considered a minor. Dr. (Sara) Drury’s class on democracy and deliberation opened my eyes to how to be a good communicator. Dr. (Eric) Wetzel’s global health class studied public health and the health infrastructure of Peru with two weeks immersed in and around Lima.”
But it was his extra- and co-curricular activities and internships that convinced him to apply to medical school.
“The Global Health Initiative (GHI) and my internship with the Montgomery County Health Department were huge at helping me figure this out,” Equihua says.
Through the GHI, Equihua also spent a summer as an intern with Dr. Todd Roland ’85 in North Carolina learning about using technology to create opportunities to improve health outcomes in a community.
“Understanding the importance of public health was super important, and helped me understand the whole team aspect of any medical environment,” Equihua says. “As a provider, you need to ask where is this person going? What’s the environment they’re living in? What resources do they have access to? Social determinants of health are incredibly important.”
The four-year member of the Little Giant football team also became a fellow in the Wabash Democracy and Public Discourse (WDPD) initiative.
“The first time I heard of WDPD, I saw Jack Kellerman ’18. He was super articulate, a very impressive speaker,” Equihua says. “I wanted to be like him and felt WDPD was going to help me be a better leader. I was constantly looking for ways to jump out of my student role and into a different role. How can I make a difference right now?”
Equihua recalls seeing the power of deliberation the first time he served as a note taker at an event in Gary, Indiana, for a conversation about police brutality.
“It was a pretty heated discussion,” he says. “Somebody who grew up in Gary and had some pretty bad experiences with police brutality and a highly-ranked official were going back and forth.
“The facilitator did such a good job, taking his time, pausing when things started to get out of control. He would bring it back on track, summarize a point from one of the participants, and then throw it back at the table and say, ‘Is this the theme I’m hearing?’ Then he would create another question, build the theme a little bit more, and keep bringing the group back, making sure we were progressing in the right direction.”
As a medical student, Equihua uses similar deliberative techniques every day.
“As a facilitator we always harp on being a really good active listener,” he says. “Now, I’m listening for little tidbits rather than just thinking of my next question. Patients give me a little piece of information and I’m going a bit deeper into the subject rather than skimming over the top.”
With the variety of skills and experiences in his front lab coat pocket, the future Dr. Equihua is ready to take on the next challenge.
“Wabash puts us in positions all the time where you really don’t know what to do. You have no other option but to just figure it out.”