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10 Years After Chiropractors Graduation

Chiropractic schools across the nation are graduating students this time of year. There are Homecomings and Lyceum's in Iowa, South Carolina, California, and other US states that are home to chiropractic colleges. Educational institutions that teach chiropractic typically hold graduation ceremonies two and three times throughout the year and summer appears to be the popular time for most chiropractic graduations. While graduation from chiropractic school is a big event for most any doctor of chiropractic, today's date marks 10 years since the graduation of my August 1998 class.

By Michael Dorausch, D.C.

Chiropractic schools across the nation are graduating students this time of year. There are Homecomings and Lyceum’s in Iowa, South Carolina, California, and other US states that are home to chiropractic colleges. Educational institutions that teach chiropractic typically hold graduation ceremonies two and three times throughout the year and summer appears to be the popular time for most chiropractic graduations. While graduation from chiropractic school is a big event for most any doctor of chiropractic, today’s date marks 10 years since the graduation of my August 1998 class.

Cleveland Chiropractic College Diploma 1998I remember being a chiropractic student and thinking chiropractors that had been in practice for 10 years were old-timers. Now I think chiropractors practicing 30 or more years better fit that description. Maybe in 20 years from now I will feel differently about it.

It was a hot August summer day in Glendale, California when the 1998 summer class from Cleveland Chiropractic College in Los Angeles (CCCLA) walked across the platform to receive their diplomas. Amongst chiropractors graduating on this day were Drs. Patrick Bennett (the class valedictorian), Darrel Crain (the outspoken and strongly opinionated author), Damon West (photographer and artist), Sondra Konigsfeld & Jack Mawer (surf kooks and SOT evangelists), David Zamikoff (Florida representative) and yours truly (general all-around troublemaker).

I don’t recall the total number of graduates crossing the platform on that day but there were certainly more than 25. Congratulations to all of you, hope your first 10 years out in chiropractic has been a spectacular experience.

Dr. Patrick M. Bennett, Doctor of Chiropractic now practicing in Studio City, California, was always studying and nearly everyone in the class was fairly certain he would be the class valedictorian. He has since been married, had two children, and maintains a terrific chiropractic practice called Optimal Health Chiropractic, which is in Studio City (about 15 miles from the chiropractic school he attended).

Dr. Darrel Crain showed tremendous effort while attending chiropractic school. He was already married with kids at home and he made regular weekly commutes to Los Angeles from San Diego in order to attend school in the LA area. Darrel Crain has authored a number of articles for Planet Chiropractic, as well as authoring for other publications (mostly appearing locally in San Diego). Dr. Crain has also been active in the California Chiropractic Association (CCA) having served as president of the CCA San Diego County district.

Crains articles include topics on vaccination, bartending, schoolyards, and straightjackets.

Chiropractors Jack Mawer and Sondra Konigsfeld met while attending chiropractic college and married a short time after. They should be coming up on a 10 year wedding anniversary anytime soon. When attending chiropractic school they lived in the Venice beach area, where they could surf and play with their dog, and they later moved to the coastal community of Encinitas, to build a chiropractic family practice.

Dr. Damon West was the artist, photographer, and comedian amongst the group. Dr. Damon drew this drug-induced schoolkid image while in chiropractic school. He also photographed visiting chiropractors Ian Grassam and Fred Barge during a 1997 visit to the college campus. Dr. West practices in Sacramento, California.

No chiropractic class would be complete without someone like Dr. David Zamikoff in attendance. The Florida resident moved to California in the 1990s in order to get his education at CCCLA. Dr. Zamikoff and myself were amongst the first chiropractic students traveling to Panama for CREW missions in early 1998. We both returned after graduation for what was to become many chiropractic humanitarian trips to that nation. Dr. David Zamikoff practices in Bradenton Florida, which is located just south of St. Petersburg and north of Sarasota, on the state’s West Coast.

If you are a chiropractic patient, chances are your chiropractor is not paying attention to the day they graduated from chiropractic college. You may want to take a look around their office and find the date listed on their diploma. Who knows, they may just have an anniversary coming up.

planetc1.com-news @ 10:49 am | Article ID: 1218736184

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