BRYAN, Texas — Junior high students in the Brazos Valley are taking advantage of opportunities to learn about science.
The Health Sciences Summer Camp at Blinn College is looking for emerging leaders to join their camp where students can participate in a three-day camp learning about various health departments.
“They can explore,” said Sami Rahman, director of simulations at Blinn College. “We put on a very active, three-day experience for them. We introduce them and when I say introduce them, we actually give them hands-on what does a nurse do, what are some of the things they do; here’s some of the schools go and we actually let them do some of those skills.”
The goal is for students to explore and get the opportunity to experience being in the field.
“We put together a grand simulation that they will be running around using all of the skills that they have learned to help people out of a motor vehicle accident all the way through being cared for in a hospital setting right behind us in our critical care unit,” said Denise Guadagnino, simulation specialist at Blinn College.
This camp has been running for six years, and now campers are coming back to the program, this time as college students.
“We’ve kind of seen the benefits that have been reaped because we now have kids that are grown up,” said Rahman. “We have a young lady that’s graduating this year-a senior in high school, and she’s come back and helped us as a mentor so that she’s from the camper perspective. She’s actually going to apply and hopefully be in our program next year for physical therapy assistant.”
Here, students are seeing what it’s like to work in healthcare, but more importantly, to inspire their future.
“It also plants that seed of what else is out there and just gets them excited about all of the things they can do in the future that maybe they didn’t know about, and hopefully get them more enthusiastic about school,” said Guadagnino.
Campers will have the opportunity to work in a variety of health departments ranging from nursing, EMTs, radiology, physical therapy, dentists, and vet techs.
“What we really push, and the reason why I think they enjoy it so much is because it’s not just folks coming in and telling them about their jobs, it’s hands-on,” said Guadagnino. “They’re going to touch equipment, take care of patients; they’re going to be in the place of that professionals and see what it’s really like.”
They will get experience in taking blood pressure, conducting x-rays, monitoring oxygen levels, and finish with a simulation where their parents can also get involved.
Registration is now open for students to get a jump start in their careers.
The camp will be held June 14-16 at the RELLIS Academic Alliance Complex. For more information about the summer camp, visit Registration for Blinn Health Sciences Summer Camp at the RELLIS Campus.