April 7, 2026

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Laura Brelsford | hcnews@hawks.huntingdon.edu | (334) 833-4563

Huntingdon Internship Spotlight – Lane Young ’25

Montgomery, AL – Lane Young, Huntingdon class of 2025 from Horton, Alabama, graduated last spring with his degree in biochemistry with aspirations of becoming physician. With his recent acceptance to the University of Alabama Birmingham medical school, he reflected on his internship while at the College. While Lane spent time with people in the medical field to confirm his future, he took a leap of faith with one of his internships with Huntingdon Chaplain Rhett Butler to evaluate the humanistic side of his future profession. Below he shares more of his experience and the impact his unconventional internship made on him and his future in the medical field.

“During my internship with Rhett, much of my learning was discussion-based and focused on global issues as well as personal growth as caregivers and prayer writing. One of the central themes of our conversations was a book titled Recalling Our Own Stories: Spiritual Renewal for Religious Caregivers by Edward P. Wimberly. This book challenged me to examine my own internal struggles so that I could prepare to fully dedicate myself to caring for others. A main topic of the book was the “walking wounded” caregiver. This is someone who dedicates themselves to helping others while ignoring their own struggles. Through these discussions, I learned that effective caregiving requires introspection and the willingness to address your own challenges first.

In my internships, I also spent significant time assessing cultural awareness and the importance of knowing when to listen versus when to speak. The most important thing Rhett taught me was the importance of meeting people where they are mentally and emotionally on any given day. This lesson has stayed with me and has become central to how I approach every situation.

I chose this route for my internship because it gave me tools that go beyond clinical knowledge and helped me focus on the human side of medicine. It reinforced my belief that patients should be treated as individuals with families and stories, not as diagnoses. This perspective has helped me show my employer, the physicians I work with, and medical school interviewers that I genuinely care about everyone I meet.

Most importantly, this experience strengthened my ability to show compassion in meaningful ways. Building trust with patients begins with listening and understanding their story, especially when they are at their most vulnerable. The lessons I learned during this internship have shaped me into someone who strives to care for people from all backgrounds by meeting them where they are and treating them with respect and dignity they deserve.

As I move forward into medical school and beyond, I know these lessons will continue to guide how I interact with patients, colleagues, and communities. Medicine requires more than just science: it requires human connection. My experience with Chaplain Butler laid the foundation for the kind of physician and advocate I hope to become. This was a truly incredible opportunity that I will always be grateful for, and I believe everyone interested in medicine should pursue.”

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