EHS Alumni & Friends Tutoring Center News
Massachusetts State Secretary of Veterans’ Services Jon Santiago Inspires EHS Students with Life Story of “Honor, Achievement, and Service to Mankind”
On March 20th, the Alumni & Friends Tutoring Center welcomed Secretary of Veterans’ Services Jon Santiago for a visit with students. Secretary Santiago met with roughly 20 seniors in the library, where he shared his life story and engaged students in a question and answer period. Santiago’s story is riveting, yet not intimidating, and he quickly drew students in, sharing that he was a “slacker” in high school, applied to one college at the last possible moment, and was at first intimidated by college, which didn’t seem like it was for black and brown people like himself. Nevertheless, Santiago went on to graduate with degrees in biology and religious studies, a Masters in Public Health, and his medical degree from Yale School of Medicine. He travelled the world as a volunteer in the Peace Corps, a Fulbright Scholar in Paris, and as a major in the U.S. Army Reserve, deploying twice overseas. He became an ER doctor at Boston Medical Center, a State Representative for the 9th Suffolk District in Boston, and in 2023 was appointed Secretary of Veterans Services by Governor Healey.
Santiago’s interests and success in both medicine and politics grew out of personal experiences and the desire to help others. As a child, an uncle he was close to contracted HIV and later died of AIDS. Surrounded by family and friends who were blue collar workers fixing things with their hands, Santiago knew that as a doctor he could contribute by using his hands to help sick people. But he also began to wonder why some people in poor neighborhoods, like his uncle in Roxbury, were more impacted by disease. He became interested in the “social determinants of health” and realized that if he wanted to help he would also have to address social policy and try to fix things like healthcare access, job opportunities, childcare and housing. Now, even as Secretary of Veterans’ Services, he continues to work in the Emergency Room at Boston Medical Center every Friday night, knowing he has to “keep in touch with the real world, and bring it back to the State House.”
After hearing about Santiago’s journey, students asked some important questions. One of our future nurses asked, “With all the transitions, working for the hospital and the State, how did that impact your mental health?” Santiago responded by explaining how ER doctors are taught to compartmentalize, and “put walls up” which can help in the moment, but can also lead to issues later. He’s had to work on talking more about his experiences with peers. Another student talked about his own work on neighborhood issues with the Hyde Square Task Force and asked, “How can we make change or approach an issue effectively?” Santiago emphasized that it’s not just about coming up with a vision, but finding the right stakeholders, building trust, and listening, “leadership begins with listening.”
Some students even stayed after the school day ended, ignoring the bell and gathering around Secretary Santiago to hear book recommendations: Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman, King Leopold’s Ghost by by Adam Hochschild, Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell, and The Autobiography of Malcolm X. As students asked final questions and thanked Santiago, he generously shared his contact information, asking, “What is it you want to do and how can we help you?”
