SRU hosts high school students for health care collaboration
SLIPPERY ROCK — High school students interested in the health care field were able to explore future options at Slippery Rock University’s Healthcare Next Generation Program on Monday, Nov. 25.
Juniors and seniors from Slippery Rock Area High School spent the morning at SRU’s College of Health Professions to engage and participate in various “learning labs” based on individual health care-related majors. Students also spent an hour in the afternoon touring Grove City AHN Hospital.
The 11 learning lab program students participated in athletic training, physician assistant, physical therapy, public health, recreational therapy, exercise science, occupational therapy, nursing, psychology, health care administration and management, and social work.
The program was a collaboration between SRU’s College of Health Professions and Allegheny Health Network. Patricia Pierce, assistant to the dean of the college, had reached out to Slippery Rock Area High School about the program. Students who expressed interest were surveyed on the labs that intrigued them the most, and they were able to chose five out of 11 lab programs. Of the 32 high school students who participated, most were from health and anatomy classes.
“The idea is just to introduce students to a number of different health professions. Oftentimes, at that age, you might think of nursing, or physical therapy, which are all great fields,” Christine Karshin, dean of the college, said. “But you may not be familiar with occupation therapy, recreational therapy, so this just opens up their eyes to learn more about these programs.”
Karshin said she saw similar types of collaboration with hospitals while previously working at Eastern Michigan University. She said in recent conversations she has had with colleagues, workers at AHN have talked a lot about “the importance of recruiting the future generation.” She said institutions like the College of Health Professions are a conduit for that, and Slippery Rock high school is the perfect partner to test this.
The individual labs consisted of hands-on activities, such as learning how to use medical equipment, completing tasks while wearing impairment goggles, and interacting with a therapy dog. In one activity, students raced each other in wheelchairs to gain a better understanding of conditions physical therapists treat.
Some students chose a wide mix of labs to participate in. One student, Rhenna Humphrey, noted it was cool the college’s faculty incorporated lab activities to make learning fun.
“I chose a wide variety of things so I can learn more about them and narrow down my choices on what I want to do in the future,” Humphrey said. “I think it’s a really amazing opportunity, especially being able to see everything up close.”
Chris Mooney, health and physical education teacher at Slippery Rock high school, said the labs were not similar to what students are learning in class. Rather, she said it went a step above and beyond to pique their interest and gave a chance to do hands-on work and learn about potential careers in health care.
Mooney said there have been some collaborations in past with the high school and the college, but this was the first one she has done.
“Networking, taking advantage of opportunities, is crucial for our students and something that I preach to them,” Mooney said. “I’ve also told students that are on the fence with future decisions, come and see. Because sometimes an experience helps you nail it down, or maybe you decide ‘hey, that’s really not what I want.’ So it really was just that idea of career readiness, giving them this experience to have the opportunity to find out more about things they thought they had an interest in.”
Lauren Pennock, an undergrad volunteer who recently was accepted to Slippery Rock’s graduate school for physical therapy, emphasized the importance of showing high school students these options.
“It’s definitely important. Health care professionals are needed every day all across the country, so it’s important to give information to the younger generations so they can be pushed into the direction of becoming the future health care leaders of America,” Pennock said.
Pierce thinks students may have very narrow view of what health care is. She hopes this type of collaboration expands their view so they can see different majors and specialty areas. Pierce also said she hopes to continue the program, planning on offering it again in the spring, and she wants to extend it to other schools,
And while Karshin see this collaboration as a great opportunity for SRU, as well as understanding the importance of selling students on an industry such as health care, she noted the potential that this kind of collaboration can have on shaping a student’s future.
“I reflect back years ago when I was a high school student, and I thought in my mind there were two career choices for me. And I picked door number one, and it worked for me. But I always say it takes a special person to want to work in health care, because it’s all about caring for others, and it’s a very service-oriented career regardless of which door they choose. So I think it gives them an idea, as 16- and 17-year-olds, do they have the capacity to want to spend their careers caring for others, and understanding there’s so many great opportunities out there.”
