AU STEM student shines in the Sand Hills Literary Magazine

Rachel Kaufman, a third-year medical student at the Medical College of Georgia, published an award-winning poem in the Sand Hill’s Literary Magazine. (photo courtesy of Madeline Snipes)

By Aaron Smith | Staff writer

Issue 46 of the Sand Hills Literary Magazine is now available for Augusta University students on campus, and it’s the best one yet.

Since 1973, Sand Hills has been dedicated to publishing excellent creative writing, and this issue is no different. Sand Hills features art, prose, poetry and a student contest where the winner receives a cash prize.

Rachel Kaufman, a third-year medical student at the Medical College of Georgia, was one of the recent winners with her poem, “On Body Donation”.

“What really prompted it was an anatomy lab that I had where we dissected body donors,” Kaufman said. “After we’re done with anatomy, we have memorial services for the families of those who’ve passed and donated their bodies to honor their loved ones. I was invited to speak at the memorial service, and although I knew nothing about this person, I wanted to write a piece to share with their families.”

Kaufman said her love for writing has always been an influential part of her life.

“I grew up with a lot of poetry influence,” she said. “My dad, who is also a doctor, read poetry to me when I was a kid, so I was always interested in poetry and felt like it was a good way to express myself.”

While Kaufman was in high school, she was the editor for her school’s literary magazine. As an undergraduate, she took creative writing classes, but ultimately decided her true calling was medicine.

“Once I went into medical school, I realized that there is a place for both writing and medicine,” she said. “There’s a lot of connections between exploring lived experiences through writing and connecting with people in medicine. Since then, I’ve combined those two interests together and have been writing in medical school about my experiences.”

While Kaufman’s ideas for creativity come through many forms, her field of study has continued to be a driving factor. She said she also drew inspiration from her time spent at George Washington University.

“In general, I was inspired by my family while writing in college,” Kaufman said. “Now, so much of my experience is medicine and that gives me a lot of good material to write about. Not all of it is about the medical problems that people have, but the humanity within medicine because there are real people experiencing these things.”

Kaufman said communicating with patients and families is also important for her.

“As a medical student, you have more time to talk to the families more than other doctors, so I really like getting to know my patients and I draw inspiration from that when writing creatively,” she said.

At AU, STEM education allows for students to develop critical thinking skills, with humanities introducing concepts of empathy and compassion. Kaufman’s poem in this issue shows the correlation between the two.

“I think it’s helpful to apply humanities to science and medicine,” she said. “It’s important to have the frame of mind that it’s called humanities for a reason and there are shared experiences that we could connect on. I think the ability to see beyond a patient's disease and see the humanity behind them is where the connection between creative writing and science and medicine comes from.”

Kaufman doesn’t plan to give up on her creative activities anytime soon.

“Creative writing is always something that I’ve enjoyed, so whether I publish them or not, I’ll definitely continue to write them in the future,” she said.

The Antidote, the literary journal of the Medical College of Georgia, also features Kaufman’s work.

For more information about submissions for Sand Hills, visit https://sandhillslitmag.com/ .

To learn more about The Antidote, visit https://augusta.openrepository.com/handle/10675.2/622720 .

Contact Aaron Smith at madsmith@augusta.edu.