Local high school students are empowered to make more informed career choices after attending GW’s hands-on workshop, a “Day in the Health Sciences.” The career exploration program, held at GW’s Virginia Science & Technology Campus (VSTC), was run twice, on April 24 and 25, 2017, to accommodate two groups of Loudoun County high school students.
GW’s School of Medicine & Health Sciences (SMHS) faculty and staff facilitated group activities for the 66 students, including workshops about careers in:
- Occupational Therapy
Dr. Leslie Davidson
- Medical Laboratory Sciences
Dr. Marcia Firmani, Cliff Cymrot, Soah Khim, Kim Shinabarker
- Pre-Medicine
Patrick Carr & Monique Peterson
- Emergency Medical Services Management
Geoffrey Shapiro
Each participating student attends one of the high schools in Loudoun County based on their home residence, as well as spends a portion of their week at the C.S. Monroe Technology Center’s program in Health and Medical Sciences.
“The program is part of GW’s continuing efforts to engage high school students considering health science careers,” said Carmen Session, Assistant Director of Admissions & Enrollment Services for SMHS and the program organizer. “From empathizing with occupational therapy clients to exploring the fields of medical laboratory science and emergency medical services, students are exposed to more than traditional pre-med programs. Many students have their sights firmly set on medical school, but we feel it’s important to help them explore other rewarding and critical health science fields.”
Loudoun County Public School students use microscopes to examine parasite samples and laptops to conduct virtual PCR labs in one of the wet labs in Discovery Hall.