Last month, juniors and seniors taking medical electives took a field trip to participate in the First Regional Student Healthcare Expo, hosted by Workforce Solutions Rural Capital Area. The event, which took place Nov. 22, featured simulations, hands-on demonstrations, guest speakers and more.
The event was organized by anatomy and medical interventions teacher Alicia Blount-Wilson and chemistry and medical microbiology teacher Jason Haley. Groups from the Leander, Round Rock, Taylor, Georgetown and Thrall school districts participated in the event.
“When Mrs. Wilson announced it to our [anatomy] class, all my friends were planning on going, too,” junior Om Shindhe said. “It was the last day before break, so we decided it would be fun to go to something we are interested in.”
The healthcare exposition took place 20 minutes away from the school, at Texas State University’s Round Rock Campus.
“I didn’t even know we had a Texas State Round Rock,” senior Kayla Hehenberger said. “It was cool knowing that if you’re interested in smaller campuses, there’s stuff that you can do, like nursing, on a smaller campus, rather than going to the big Texas State campus. It was pretty, and the people were really nice.”
The Leander ISD and Taylor ISD students began with a presentation on interviewing and resume tips in healthcare, hosted by Cynthia Daemen, MSN BSN. Then, they attended a networking event featuring various universities, an ambulance service, the county EMS service and other local healthcare industry employers and organizations.
“I thought the campus and people at Texas State were very friendly, and I loved how passionate they seemed about their respective fields,” senior Niyati Naveen said. “My favorite part was probably getting to meet with the staff from St. David’s and hearing about the different internships they offer in various fields of medicine.”
Next, students moved to a panel on the life of a Healthcare Professional. The discussion featured healthcare professionals from Texas A&M College of Medicine, Galen College and St. David’s Healthcare.
“I had no idea that you could travel for nursing, which is really cool, and while that might not be something I want to do, I didn’t know that was available,” Hehenberger said. “I felt like it helped me narrow down what I don’t want to do, and also what I do want to do. Obviously, there wasn’t every single doctor possible there, but it was still a lot of variety that was able to help me see that there’s a lot out there in one field. There’s a lot of stuff you can do.”
The last stop of the day was at the Nursing Sim Lab, hosted by Texas State university’s own nursing building. The Sim Lab stations were hosted by professors at the school.
“I thought the campus and people at Texas State were very friendly, and I loved how passionate they seemed about their respective fields,” Naveen said. “I enjoyed listening to their perspectives and experiences and how the medical field has changed over the years.”
Shindhe believes the experience helped him and other students realize the variety of options available to them for their majors and careers, and that it is important for students to take opportunities like this to explore their future beyond high school.
“I would definitely recommend experiences like this to other people, as it was just a nice way to see Texas State University, a possible college, and it also opens you up to different things outside of school, such as summer camps, internships.” Shindhe said. “It really opens up your eyes to like the broad possibility of what you can do in the medical field.”