High school students glimpse healthcare profession future at NIU camp

June 6th, 2008 at 04:43pm Deborah Austin

This weekend, 60 high school students from northern Illinois are getting a taste of what it’s like to work in healthcare professions — complete with an emergency simulation of a car crash and its victims, a tour through a human cadaver, and a public health pandemic game.

The students are attending the fourth annual Rural Health Careers Camp on the Northern Illinois University campus. They’ve been recruited by guidance counselors and science teachers from small towns across northern Illinois. The camp’s purpose is to give the students a glimpse into healthcare careers that might bring them back home to work after graduating.

Healthcare professions find it tough to recruit students from rural communities because there aren’t many role models or places to work, said Alan Robinson, director of outreach for the NIU College of Health and Human Sciences.

The students range from incoming freshmen to juniors. The camp program tries to catch students early in high school so they have time to go back to school and sign up for the right courses if they’re interested in a healthcare career, Robinson said. Those courses might include second-year biology or chemistry, he said, if the students want to qualify for healthcare related majors once they reach college.

Sponsors include the University of Illinois National Center for Rural Health Professions, the NIU colleges of Health and Human Sciences and Educaiton, the Northern Illinois Area Health Education Center, and NIU Student Affairs.

Entry Filed under: Uncategorized