UDC Mortuary Science Student Association

On November 19th our students attended a tour of Joseph Gawler's Sons Funeral Home. Duane Hills, president of Joseph Gawler's Sons and author of "One Block West of the White House", led our students on a tour of their prestigious funeral home.

Not only did students get a great historical lesson of the famous figures that have been served by Gawler's, but they also received a tour of the beautiful casket and arranging rooms at the home. Many of our students also had the opportunity to make connections with other funeral professionals attending the tour and have discussions about what their ideal funeral home would look like.

🌟 Today, we honor the enduring legacy of a visionary leader, Martin Luther King Jr. His dream of equality, justice, and unity inspires us to strive for a better tomorrow. Let's reflect on his teachings, embrace diversity, and work together to build a world where love and understanding prevail. 🤝❤️

In conjunction with UDC's Center for the Advancement of Learning (CAL), our mortuary science underclassmen attended a virtual reality class to reinforce their anatomy skills. William Finn Trotman, one of our students who also works for CAL, walked us through using Oculus Quest 2 headsets to use 3D-Organon, a fully immersive VR anatomy application.

Students were able to identify and interact with veins, arteries, and muscles in virtual reality to prepare them for their next semester of lab experience. Using the headsets also sparked discussions about how to use newer technologies in funeral homes. Maybe in the next few years we'll see virtual reality walkthrough tours of funeral homes or the option for families to plan the look of services in 3D.

During the Fall 2023 semester, many of our students attended the NFDA Cremation Training course at Community College of Baltimore County! Not only was it a great learning experience for our students, it also gave us a perfect opportunity to become registered with the NFDA.

Mike Nicodemus did a fantastic job presenting the ins and outs of cremation. With his clear instruction, every one of our students that attended was able to pass their NFDA Cremation Certification test! Thank you also to the Maryland State Funeral Directors Association for their help in advertising and organizing the event.

Welcome to the Mortuary Science Student Association for the University of the District of Columbia!

This page is to share information about our current students' activities, to answer prospective student questions, and to help our students and alumni to find career connections!

While all may request to join this LinkedIn group to share and ask questions, you must be a current student of the UDC Mortuary Science program to be a member of the association.

In the coming weeks, we'll be sharing events our students participated in last semester and our plans for our next semester starting January 8th.