SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -- Friday September 18th, chiropractic's 103rd birthday, was the perfect closing day for the weeklong World Congress of Chiropractic Students (WCCS) 19th annual convention. The '98 congress, the largest to date, was hosted by Life Chiropractic College West and welcomed 110 students from 14 chiropractic colleges around the world.
The theme of this year's congress was "vision," and the motto, "As the Torch is passed, the future is brighter than ever."
The objectives of the congress are to unify the chiropractic student community worldwide, and to promote the exchange of new ideas. The aims are those of a grassroots unity to inspire a solid, consistent representation of chiropractic. All chiropractic colleges are invited to attend and send as many delegates to represent their views as possible.
There were six non-U.S. schools sending representatives. Canada was represented by the Canadian-Memorial Chiropractic College and the Universite de Quebec a Trois-Rivieres; Australia by Macquarie University, the Center of Chiropractic and Osteopathy, and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology; and the United Kingdom by the Anglo-European College of Chiropractic and McTimoney College of Chiropractic.
The U.S. colleges in attendance were Life West and Life University, Logan, Los Angeles; National; Northwestern, Palmer University, and Sherman.
The students discussed topics ranging from the Western States vaccination program to the adopting of the chiropractic position paper of the Association of Chiropractic Colleges.
"The organization is designed to generate a connection between the chiropractic profession with all of its hidden mechanisms, and the students that will be making up the profession tomorrow," said Don Clum, of Life West, chairman of the WCCS.
"The feeling is that we find ourselves out of the loop, and many times believe that we need not wait for the diploma or the license to be involved. The estimated number of students that are currently matriculating in a respective chiropractic college or university around the world is 17,500, and growing ever three months. Our mission is to have a medium for these 17,500 students to come together and voice their thoughts on issues in chiropractic and present them with the proper vehicle for action."
Besides gathering once a year to create a union of students, the WCCS also provides the avenue for many students to understand how many chiropractic organizations operate, and create the groundwork for better interstudent, school and country communication. "We believe this creates the bond and drive to become more involved in political arenas and enables the differing views of schools and philosophies to be better understood," said Chairman Clum.
Speaking and inspiring the delegates were Drs. Ron Oberstien, Heidi Keller, Greg Plaugher, Nada Nenadovic, Dick Plummer, Gerard Clum, C.J. Mertz, Robert Braile, Louis Ocone, Suart and Teresa Warner.
Don Clum felt the congress presented "motivation for many of the apparently separate groups to take the extra step, unify and move towards a common goal, chiropractic."
Sherman College passed the responsibilities for hosting the WCCS to Life West in 1998. Life West has passed the honors to the Anglo-European Chiropractic College for 1999.
The message from the students is to "Keep the vision, and live with passion."
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