Recently I was in New York City to visit a client of mine. The client is the oldest and largest school for podiatric medicine in the country, and maybe the world! It is located on either Park Avenue, or 124th Street, whichever address you prefer to use. It is a place where my mind runs in overdrive, while I search for photos, documents and publications that relate to the 100 years of the college’s existence. The school is the New York College of Podiatric Medicine.
When you enter the building, one of the first things you notice in the lobby is the display case on your right as you enter. It is a collection of miniature shoes dating back to the last two centuries! Metal, plastic, wood all constitute the make-up of the collection, and the colors run the gamut of the rainbow. Some shoes are fashion statements, some are artistic works and some are caractures of life.
But as you go deep into the bowels of the building, everything looks like it belongs to UNC (The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill or Tar Heels) feet or foot imprints, are posted everywhere!
“I get no kick from champagne.
Mere alcohol doesn't thrill me at all,
So tell me why should it be true
That I get a kick out of you?”
The building it self is very old, turn of the 20th Century beauty that makes it an elegant old lady. Renovated a number of times through the years, the offices are small and cramped in the old section of the school. Then an annex was built and the walls were knocked down to connect the old from the new, and the differences are startling.
“Some get a kick from cocaine.
I'm sure that if I took even one sniff
That would bore me terrific'ly too
Yet I get a kick out of you.”
The lecture halls, classrooms and labs are all situated in the new section, with al the latest equipment, yet the cafeteria remains as it did in the early 1900’s, crowded, cramped and noisy. On some days you see the Dean and President eating lunch together with the students and faculty.
“I get a kick ev'rytime I see
You standing there before me.
I get a kick though it's clear to me
You obviously don't adore me.
I get no kick in a plane,
Flying too high with some guy in the sky
Is my idea of nothing to do,
Yet I get a kick out of you.”
The student body seems almost professional in their approach to the academic life they lead. It is after all a sobering profession, where they deal with people that have foot problems, and a proving ground with their foot clinic for the people of the city. There is no loud laughter that you find in some colleges, no running around shouting or what not.
The library has pamphlets and books dating to 1896, which I had to read through for my project for the school. The people that man the library are extremely cooperative and very helpful. They treat guests as royalty, and makes for a very pleasurable experience for someone like me to work there.
The faculty, administration and student body are very diverse, with representation from practically every country in the world! It is a wonderful place to see as an outsider, and a school that has a great and powerful tradition.
Did you know that depending on which state of the union you work in as a podiatrist, you are limited as to how far up the leg you can treat? Some states allow you to work as high as the knee, while others only at the ankle.
So I am grateful for being exposed to this world of feet, especially since mine are always barking at me.
Did you know, that the school aids in fitting our troops into those boots we put on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan?
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