**Aspiring Doctors Celebrate Match Day, Unveiling Their Residency Futures**

CHICAGO (WLS) — It’s a day aspiring doctors wait years for: Match Day. On Friday, envelopes held their futures, revealing where graduating medical students will train as residents for the next three to seven years of their lives.

Match Day happens simultaneously at medical schools across the country, and locally, students from Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and the University of Illinois Chicago discovered their residency placements.

Nearly 200 students from Loyola University’s Stritch School of Medicine also found out which residency programs they will join in their chosen specialties, with balloons dropping to mark the exciting moment.

“It’s a dream I had my whole life. So, this is kind of crazy; it’s happening. I get to have my whole life chosen for me,” said Lauryn Pausley, who matched at the University of Illinois Chicago.

Pausing to take in the excitement, Lizzy Tutu shared, “I’m going to Cook County, the county, I’m very excited — family medicine all the way.” She matched at Cook County Health.

The energy in the room was palpable, heightened by the inspiring presence of many first-generation medical students.

“For me, it started when I was a little girl. I always knew I wanted to be a doctor,” said Lauryn Pausley, who matched in internal medicine. As the first doctor in her family, this achievement is especially significant.

“It feels empowering, especially in the world we’re in, especially as a Black woman, going to be a Black doctor, for our health and for our community. We are incredibly proud of her,” said Leslie Walker, Lauryn’s mother.

Another inspiring story comes from Alexis Hernandez, a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) student who matched at Boston Medical Center. Born in Mexico and a first-generation college and medical student, Hernandez is eager to make his two daughters—and a third child on the way—proud.

“I want to provide a life for them different than what I or my wife ever had,” Hernandez said. Originally from the East Coast, he is ecstatic to have matched in Boston, where he will soon work in one of the busiest emergency rooms in the country.

“It’s life-changing for all of us. My parents came here when I was 5 years old, growing up with Deferred Action. Going to medical school, it’s been rough. But I think it’s allowed me to relate to my patients in a way that many other people can’t. So, I think emergency medicine is perfect, where I can actually treat my patients how I wish I was treated when I was going through all this,” Hernandez added.

After years of hard work and dedication, Match Day marks the beginning of the next chapter as these students become physicians.

“This is a culmination of all of that. That’s what this energy is—the energy with their village: mom and dad, siblings, significant others. We’re celebrating all of this. All those years come to this,” said James Mendez, senior associate dean of Student Affairs at Loyola University’s Stritch School of Medicine.

“No matter what comes in life, you can do it. Yeah, a lot of sleepless nights, a lot of crying, stressing out for four years, but it’s worth it in the end,” Hernandez said.

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