Hunter Wike

Meet Hunter Wike

Competition drives Hunter Wike, a senior Roan Scholar at ETSU.  The same drive that made him a three-year standout as a wide receiver on the Buccaneer football team also informs his choices – of chemistry as his major and of medicine as his future career.  Among his accomplishments as a Buc are numerous SoCon All-Academic Team and SoCon Honor Roll mentions and Bowman Jewelers co-Offensive Player of the Game honors for the 2017 game against Furman, during which his 78-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter marked the ninth longest scoring pass play in program history. Wike also loves to help others, which led him, along with his brother, Roan Scholars Leadership Program alumnus Austin Wike, to establish the Pisgah Athletics Student Community Outreach (PASCO) in their hometown of Canton, North Carolina, a charitable program that sprang from their involvement with the Diversity and Inclusion Club that they also founded while they were students at Pisgah High School.  Wike, who graduates in May, is studying for the MCAT and aims to enter medical school this fall.

What sparked your interest in medicine?

My dad had a medical issue … and had to be flown by helicopter to Charlotte, where we stayed for a month.  We weren’t sure whether he would live or die, but the doctors there did risk assessment and made a great decision not to operate, and because of that, he’s still alive and well right now.  Being able to see doctors think critically and make decisions like that made me very interested in medicine, along with going through my shadowing experiences, learning more about medicine and about how medicine is not an exact science – there are different factors that go into everything, which makes it a more competitive practice.  You’re competing against the disease and against what’s hurting a person.  I’m a very, very competitive person, and that makes medicine a very interesting field to go into.

On top of that, I want to be able to work in different environments and see patients of different backgrounds.  I want to become a physician in a rural area and work for those in need, because there are many patients who are uninsured and aren’t receiving the care they need, and I’d like to provide that, if I’m able.   

What led you to choose chemistry as your major?

That, too, goes along with my competitive side.  When you’re doing chemistry problems, there are the math and physics involved.  Being able to think abstractly, being able to pull things from different aspects of chemistry, and being able to solve problems and win make chemistry a lot of fun for me.  I enjoy it and have done well with it so far, and it has improved my ability to solve problems and figure things out.

Tell us how you see your minor in culture and health benefitting you in the future.

The classes I’ve taken within my culture and health minor are probably what will benefit me the most in my future as a doctor.  There are a lot of classes that talk about how different cultures practice medicine.  We get to learn about Appalachian folk medicine, we get to learn about Ayurvedic medicine, about Chinese traditional medicine, about shamanism and other types that have been practiced throughout history, so I anticipate being able to use this minor in working with patients of different backgrounds and cultures.  It will help me have more of a cultural understanding of these patients and where they’re coming from and to give the best care I can. 

Tell us what motivated you to start PASCO with your brother, and describe what participants do through the program.

Through the Diversity and Inclusion Club, I met children at the Broyhill Children’s Home in my hometown and saw the potential for a program to help athletes at our school to buddy up with residents in the children’s home and involve some of the kids with the community more.  It’s been a big blessing in my life to be able to work with these kids, because in meeting and learning more about them, I’ve been able to see that they’re just like any other kids in America.  They’re fun, they work hard, they go to school, they do all the things any other kid does.  We’ve been able to bring the community closer to these kids, and get the kids more involved and feel more a part of the community.  There are over 100 members of PASCO now.  We have toy drives for kids over Christmas and give probably about $2,000 in gifts each year.  Members also go to nursing homes and such, so it’s not just about the kids at the Broyhill home, but it’s about bringing the community as close together as possible.

What are some of the ways you’ve grown and served through campus organizations and activities?

Through the Roan Scholars, I’ve been able to receive a lot of leadership teaching in seminars and meetings with local business leaders and leaders from across the country, learning about different styles of leadership – what works, what doesn’t.

With Phi Beta Sigma Inc., I’ve been able to join a fraternity that has values of brotherhood, scholarship and service, and we all work together to give to those in need.  We work as hard as we can to do that.  A lot of our fundraising events require people attending to give two or three canned goods as admission.  We’ll take those goods to Bucky’s Pantry, homeless shelters or wherever we can.  We also work with March of Dimes, Relay for Life, Bigger and Better Business and other programs.

Do you have a particular specialty in mind at this point for your medical career?

I’m not sure, but through my shadowing experience, I found a great interest in surgery.  I really enjoy being around the operating table and seeing doctors work with their hands.  I see a lot of parallels between surgery and football – I enjoy the competitive side and the high-pressure situations, and I enjoy working with my hands, and surgery would allow me to do that.  There’s also a sacral aspect to being in the operating room, when you’re looking at a person whose body is opened up and being able to see what the body is capable of and what needs to happen.  But I’m open to different fields.  I know most students go into medicine and change their minds numerous times, so who knows where I’ll end up?