- June 24, 2025
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Eliana Yeboah, a junior at Lakewood Ranch Preparatory Academy, knows she wants to work in the medical field.
Whether she wants to be an orthodontist, or go into some other specialty, has yet to be decided.
She is hoping that making that decision, and her pursuit of a medical school, won't put her under the kind of stress suffered by her brother, Joshua Yeboah, who is currently attending medical school at the University of New Mexico to become an anesthesiologist.
“We had to stop talking to him for a while,” Eliana said of the intense pressure Joshua was under at that time.
An affiliation agreement between Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine and Lakewood Ranch Preparatory Academy has been made to grant provisional early acceptance into LECOM in order to provide more support and reduce stress for students wanting to pursue careers in the medical field.
Lakewood Ranch Preparatory Academy is one of four high schools in the nation to have such an agreement with LECOM.
Requirements include a 3.5 unweighted GPA and a 1240 minimum on the SAT. LECOM has four campuses, located in Erie, Pennsylvania; Greensburg, Pennsylvania; Elmira, New York; and Lakewood Ranch. The students can go to whatever campus they choose.
“No other schools in this area have it, so we figured this would be a great opportunity for our students to shine,” said Cheryl Cendan, the principal at Lakewood Ranch Prep.
Cendan said undergrad work is full of regular coursework, extracurricular activities, volunteer work, research and more without adding the medical school application process in the mix. With this program, the goal is to allow the students to have a more fulfilling undergraduate experience while still getting to pursue their career goals.
Eliana Yeboah said she is looking forward to the possibility of not having to worry so much about building up her resume in order to get a medical school’s attention. She also looks fondly at the idea of being able to skip the Medical College Admission Test.
“It's a constant worry during college, so being able to enjoy those college years and give myself a break before medical school starts would be great,” Yeboah said. “I can enjoy it and not have to worry about that stress.”
Lakewood Ranch Prep junior Suzan Ikele wants to become a pediatrician. She has a lot of babysitting experience and wants to continue to help children.
Both of her parents are in the medical field. Her father Stephen Ikele works as a hospitalist at Sarasota Memorial Hospital and her mother Lilian Ikele is a retail pharmacist at Walmart.
“It's driven me toward the medical field and being interested in biology and chemistry,” Suzan Ikele said.
She said if she is accepted into the LECOM program, she will still be focused on doing the necessary steps for success. She will perform job shadowing and internships during her undergraduate education. She also hopes to do some sort of study abroad program.
But she also likes the idea of being close to home during her journey through medical school, and she would choose the campus in Lakewood Ranch.
Cendan said she hopes that the agreement with LECOM influences students to return to the area after residency to provide healthcare within the local community as dentists, physicians and pharmacists.
She said the agreement was forged because LECOM sees the educational rigor that Lakewood Ranch Prep provides. Cendan said she expects 15% to 20% of their 80-student senior class will be interested in applying for the program.
Cendan said even students who haven't thought about medical school before want to apply for the opportunity in case their interest goes in that direction as they move to the next level.
She encourages students in the area who have interest in the medical field to consider applying to Lakewood Ranch Prep to take advantage of the unique agreement with LECOM. Students must attend Lakewood Ranch Prep during their senior year and graduate with the school in order to qualify.
