Ohio State gives high schoolers a look at medical careers

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Local high school students got hands-on experience at Ohio State University’s Health and Rehabilitation Sciences camp.

It’s a way for students to explore different fields within health sciences.

There are many different career options to choose from for people interested in the medical field. Leaders at the camp, known as HRS, said they want to broaden students’ horizons.

“A lot of people don’t think about the health sciences when they think about the medical field,” HRS camp organizer Dr. Eva George said. “They think about nursing, they think about being a doctor, a surgeon, but they don’t think about being a sonographer or being a respiratory therapist.”

Throughout the three-day camp, the high schoolers were able to get real-life experiences like performing a sonogram, testing lab samples for auto-immune diseases, and creating a diet for someone with diabetes.

Camp attendee Kanai Robinson just graduated from high school. Her guidance counselor suggested she go to OSU’s HRS camp.

“He knew that I wanted to go into the medical field,” Robinson said. “I wasn’t sure why or what I wanted to do, so I guess today is going to broaden my, you know, knowledge of what’s out there.”

Robinson said she was most excited to learn more about respiratory therapy. She is majoring in nursing in the fall but is interested in all kinds of health sciences.

“You get to know more about the human body and you can help people,” she said.

George urged all of the high schoolers to have an open mind and really absorb all of the different career opportunities being shown to them.

“I hope they get a wide range of experiences where they can kind of feel out what might be best for them if they want to go into the health sciences. So it’s really an exploratory type of situation,” George said.

The camp started on Monday morning and runs through Wednesday.

Learn more about health sciences by clicking here.