I’ve
been watching the progress of Animas High School, the
project-learning-based public charter school, with great interest. This
year’s first junior class took part in internships. Not just a few hours
after school but three-week-long out-of-school intensive internships in
a program called Leading Internships for New Knowledge.
For
all of the students, it was eye-opening, whether it was, “Oh, wait,
maybe I don’t really want to do that for the rest of my life,” or “Wow,
that’s even cooler than I thought it would be.”
Two students had fascinating experiences exploring the medical profession.
Caleb
Darland and Zack Dowd lined up their internships through Resources for
Medical Education and Collaboration and Katie Patty and Morgan Scott
with the Spine Colorado Research Department. Over three intensive weeks,
the young men worked with Spine Colorado, Durango Orthopedics, Mercy
Regional Medical Center and Durango Family Medicine.
Before
the internship, Caleb and Zack had to prepare an application, propose a
novel project that would be of benefit to the organization and
interview for their placement.
Each
of them had a tailored schedule, and they shadowed docs in surgeries –
yep, scrubbed in and observed actual surgeries – and clinics, rotated
through specialized departments such as radiology, respiratory care and
hospitalists as well as peeked into the behind-the-scenes operations
such as billing.
And while they
were doing that, they were working on their independent projects. Zack
studied and presented on neuromonitoring during operations on spine
care, and Caleb evaluated all those forms we as patients fill out when
arriving for an appointment at Durango Orthopedics to improve their
effectiveness for both patients and physicians. He presented a revised
form that may be put into use soon.
A
lot of professionals gave of their time to make these internships such
valuable experiences, including Drs. Doug Orndorff, Kane Anderson, Jim
Youssef, Richard Goodman, Patrick Kearney, Joe Murphy, and Valerie
McKinnis; physicians assistants Lance Hamlin, George Baumchen and Doug
Phelps; and Katya Licciardi, Tina Lewis, Haley Jones, Stacey Forsythe
and Susie Tipton.
Between the
first day and the last, all of these people saw Zack and Caleb become
more professional, learn to use medical terminology properly, improve
their communication skills and gain a much better understanding of the
practice of medicine.
To hear more about their internships, visit http://linkinternship11.blogspot.com or http://zdowdlinklog.blogspot.com/. To learn about becoming a mentor, contact Rachael Sands at 259-3013 or internships@animashighschool.com.
Students
from AHS dipped their toes into all kinds of professions, and many
people in many fields gave of their time and energy to provide these
students with real-world experiences. From what I’ve heard, your time
was well spent on all fronts while making an investment in the next
generation.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – I am so jealous.
