Hillary Starr always wanted to be a doctor. For Renee Prins, it took awhile to come around to the idea.
As childhood friends in Snohomish, they imagined their futures. “Renee initially wanted to be a nurse,” Starr said. “I was going to be the doctor.”
Today, both have earned that title. Meet Dr. Starr and Dr. Prins.
They’ve gone from being fourth-grade pals at Dutch Hill Elementary School, where they’d eat lunch together and talk about each other’s birthday parties, to alumni of the same medical school.
On May 28, Starr and Prins graduated from Loma Linda University School of Medicine in Loma Linda, Calif., east of Los Angeles.
The achievement was especially poignant for Starr, who is 25. On Memorial Day last year, her 22-year-old brother, Marine Cpl. Jeffrey Starr, was killed in combat in Iraq.
“My brother told me constantly he was really proud of me. His friends all identified me as ‘the sister who’s a doctor,’” Starr said.
Just two weeks after Jeff Starr’s death, she returned to California from Snohomish to finish her third year of medical school. “I knew how much he would have wanted me to go back,” she said.
The daughter of Brian and Shellie Starr, Hillary has a younger sister, Emily, at Snohomish High School. Renee’s parents, Clarence and Carla Prins of Snohomish, have another daughter, Carlene, working on a master’s degree in education.
Hillary and Renee took their friendship from grade school into Snohomish High School. They share years of memories.
“One time we went horseback riding,” Prins said. “We were both on one horse, the saddle was slipping, I grabbed her and we both fell off.”
They went to their senior prom in the same group. After graduation in 1998, they went their separate ways. Starr earned her undergraduate degree at Whitworth College in Spokane. Prins went to Seattle Pacific University.
Reuniting in medical school wasn’t planned. After college graduation in 2002, both applied to several West Coast schools. “Loma Linda was the best fit,” said Prins, 26. They lived together a year and a half before getting separate places during medical school.
“We always had a tradition of getting together around finals and going to the movies to relieve stress. I really admire her strength,” Prins said of Starr. “Hillary is one of the strongest people I’ve ever met.”
“It was really nice to have a familiar face, somebody who knew everything about me,” Starr said. “I could be grumpy around her.”
For the next stage in their careers, they’ll again part ways.
Starr, who plans to be a small-town family practice doctor, will serve her residency with MultiCare Health System in Tacoma. She’ll work at Tacoma General Hospital and Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital.
Prins will be in Portland, Ore., for a three-year internal medicine residency at Oregon Health and Science University. She wants to specialize in oncology.
Asked about the rigors of medical school, Prins said, “it wasn’t the academics, but the last two years being so sleep-deprived.”
During a three-month surgery rotation, Starr said she’d get up at 4 a.m., be at work by 5 a.m. to see patients, then have surgeries at 7:30 a.m. “I wouldn’t get home until after 7 at night,” she said.
“As you go through the years, the learning curve is very steep,” Starr said. “We’re all scared to start residency, but there’s nothing more to learn in medical school. We’re ready to jump out of that nest.”
After her brother died, Starr appreciated the caring atmosphere of Loma Linda, a Seventh-day Adventist university.
“My entire class was very supportive,” Starr said. “Neither Renee nor I are Adventist, but we’re both Christians. The mission of Loma Linda is to meet not just physical needs, but emotional, psychological and spiritual needs.”
Being a doctor, Starr added, is a chance to “take care of patients, talk to people, and every once in awhile make a difference.”
Prins is still at Loma Linda, faced with moving to Oregon before starting her residency June 15.
Starr will be at orientation in Tacoma on June 19. First, she’ll enjoy a well deserved vacation to Ireland with a former college roommate. The trip is a graduation present from her brother Jeff, who gave his life for his country.
The Ireland vacation is being paid for with money from his military life insurance, Hillary Starr said.
“My brother was all about having fun,” she said.
Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlsteinjulie@heraldnet.com.
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