During their senior year at Bio-Med Science Academy, a rural STEM + M school located on the Northeast Ohio Medical University campus, students are given the opportunity to complete an internship or research project with University faculty and staff. Seventeen students are taking advantage of opportunities right on the campus. Our first article looked at Bio-Med students who have chosen to take advantage of research internships in NEOMED’s labs. This article focuses on those who are looking for their niche outside the research environment.
Denise Hart is excited that she is getting a chance to pursue her interest in medicine by interning at the Summa Health Family Medicine Office in the NEW Center. “I've learned how to take blood pressure manually, and most recently, I was able to take a nurse’s hemoglobin! I got to stick her and everything!” Hart says. While she won’t be sticking patients anytime soon, she is still enjoying the opportunity to try new things at her internship each day. Sabrina Price is interning at NEOMED’s Best Practices in Schizophrenia Treatment (BeST) Center, which serves as a national resource for best practices in the early diagnosis and treatment of schizophrenia.
Taylor Dias, who has always wanted to be a pharmacist, is interning with Dale English, Pharm.D., R.Ph., in the pharmacy department. “He is preparing me for what my life is going to look like. I am extremely grateful to him and everything that he has done for me!” Dias says. University partnerships throughout the NEOMED Education and Wellness (NEW) Center give the students additional career choices to try out through internships. Desi Gurevich and Kirsten Rollyson are both interning at the Ritzman Pharmacy, shadowing the professionals and learning about the evolving roles of a pharmacist.
Emma Burns, Alexander Krauss and JT Vaughan work with Sequoia Wellness Center. Emma helps create exercise plans and assists personal trainer Jenn Herman with the fitness classes she teaches. Alexander is shadowing a physical therapist in the Ferrell-Whited Physical Therapy Services practice located next to the fitness facility. And by interning as part of a Kidz in Motion program at the day care facility in the NEW Center, JT is learning how to provide a fun environment for kids while parents are at the wellness center close by.
Students like Eric Swim and Rhys Lang have taken advantage of opportunities in departments outside the science field: Eric is interning with the accounting department, and Rhys Lang will be shadowing the maintenance crew at NEOMED to learn and lend a hand.
Students will hold their internships until the beginning of May 2017. Each senior at Bio-Med submits a weekly blog about their internship and will present about what they have accomplished at the high school’s annual APEX event in June.
--Gabrielle Biltz is a senior at Bio-Med Science Academy and an intern in the NEOMED Office of Public Relations and Marketing.