Samantha Mujica is a fourth-year student at UNLV’s Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine. She recently returned to Las Vegas from a four-week interventional radiology rotation at a hospital in Portland, Ore., and is doing anesthesia work most of this semester at University Medical Center before heading off to St. Louis to spend a few weeks working in the interventional radiology department at the Washington University Medical Center. Between all of her practical work, Mujica, 27, is also studying for exams and preparing to begin the process of interviewing for residency programs, she said.
Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023 | 2 a.m.
For Samantha Mujica, a fourth-year medical student at UNLV’s Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine, it seems like the work never stops.
After returning to Las Vegas from a four-week interventional radiology rotation at a hospital in Portland, Ore., Mujica was launched straight into another rotation doing anesthesia work at University Medical Center.
She’ll be there for the majority of this semester before heading off to St. Louis to spend a few weeks working in the interventional radiology department at the Washington University Medical Center.
Between all of her practical work, Mujica, 27, is also studying for exams and preparing to begin the process of interviewing for residency programs, she said.
But Mujica — who held three jobs while getting her undergraduate degree at UNR — has always lived a busy life, and now she’s learning how to take a break.
“I feel like I have to be doing something because I’m so used to, like, always being on, whether it’s school, whether it’s work, or taking care of my dog or something,” Mujica said. “But it’s OK to take a day off, two days off, if it means going home and spending time with the ones you love. Of course, medicine is still important, but it can’t be the only thing in anyone’s existence.”
Mujica said she developed an interest in medicine from her mother, who worked as a waitress at Mimi’s Cafe while studying for nursing school. She remembers accompanying her mother to classes, sitting in the back of classrooms scribbling into coloring books as teachers explained techniques like how to properly insert an intravenous drip.
It was one of Mujica’s earliest encounters with the medical field, and she was hooked, she said. At 16 years old, with a freshly printed driver’s license in her pocket, Mujica got her first job working in one of Reno’s movie theaters to prepare for her eventual journey in medical school.
She took on a second job soon after, working in the same Mimi’s Cafe that her mother — now working as a nurse — served in, Mujica said.
“That was kind of, like, funny to see her old boss was now my boss, and he used to see me growing up because she was waitressing when I was younger, so he used to see me around when I was a kid,” Mujica said.
As if she didn’t have enough to balance between two jobs and her high school classwork, Mujica took on a third job at the Sunglasses Hut as soon as she turned 18, she added, and finished out high school working three part-time jobs.
And that continued as she went into college at UNR.
In 2019, Mujica graduated with a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience and a minor in analytical chemistry after running from class to work shifts and home.
Most of the money she earned went to tuition, car insurance payments, gas money and rent for the house she shared with some roommates. By the time she was 19, Mujica had left her job at the theater and was surviving off the tips from her two serving jobs — including a new one at the local Sunrise Cafe in Reno — as well as the checks from Sunglass Hut.
Mujica said the Sunglass Hut job was especially nice because each year, the company would gift employees a $500 certificate that she used to get herself new prescription glasses and an eye exam for the five years she worked there.
The COVID-19 pandemic — like with most things — threw a wrench in Mujica’s plans.
She had just graduated from college and still worked her three jobs, but she lost them all during the pandemic after nonessential businesses were temporarily shuttered.
Although Mujica had plans for medical school, she spent most of her time outside of work studying for her Medical College Admission Test.
“COVID happened, everything shut down (and) I lost all my jobs because you can’t serve when the restaurants are closed,” Mujica said. “So, you know, I went from working five, six days a week to not working at all. … It was kind of that in-between area that I’m sure a lot of people fell in during COVID.”
Then, UNLV came calling.
Ann Diggins, assistant dean for student affairs and career services at UNLV’s Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine, met Mujica online in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic began ravaging the globe.
Then an applicant for the medical school, Mujica gave off the impression that “she was a student who was really dedicated to helping others, but also somebody who was really trying to forge a path that was unique in her family and community,” Diggins said.
In Mujica’s first year of medical school, Diggins watched as Mujica remained engaged in her online classes and became a bridge to connect many of her fellow classmates despite the physical distance.
She climbed to one of the top spots in the medical school’s graduating class of 2024, assumed leadership in the Latino Medical Student Association and even started programming post-COVID to help students learn more about Latino culture, Diggins said.
“What’s rare about Sam is how she was able to carry all those responsibilities and still be such a strong student academically, and do all of the things that pre-medical students have to do as far as extracurricular activities, research, clinical exposure,” Diggins said. “She’s also just a very kind, caring and sincere person, and I’m sure those early experiences of helping with her family have kind of formed her into who she is.”
She may not be working three jobs anymore, but Mujica said she’s kept herself busy between classes and rotations at different hospitals over the years.
Some surgeries have kept her in the operating room for up to 16 hours, and many days Mujica said she eats, sleeps, then gets up to do the same tasks the next day.Any downtime is dedicated to studying, she explained.
But all those years working multiple part-time jobs taught her a lesson or two.
“When I do have a big workload, or have many things to get done — and even if it’s like, a short amount of time — it helped teach me how to be productive and know how to schedule things appropriately, and give enough time to get things done,” Mujica said. “And I think having jobs while in school and stuff definitely helped me prepare for medical school and what will be my residency.”
Both of Mujica’s parents still live a seven-hour drive away in Reno. The only family she has in Las Vegas are an aunt and godson.
Being away from home, she said, has taught her just how important it is to rest and make time for herself.
And although she won’t have much time between her rotations, graduation and the eventual residency she will enter next year, Mujica plans on taking all the time she can — when she can — to spend time with her family and catch the breaks that she’s so unused to getting.
“You can’t always be on,” Mujica said. “Working ever since I was 16 and growing up through that, I feel like that was something that was hard to recognize — stepping back, and taking a break. But that is something very important that I feel like not a lot of students are able to understand at first, but med school will teach you that very quickly.”
