NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Eastern Virginia Medical School is hosting 29 high school students for a two-week camp to introduce them to a myriad of medical professions.
The students from Portsmouth and the Eastern Shore are getting hands-on experience as virtual surgeons, using tourniquets, suturing and more.
“The other day I worked on a heart — well, a pig heart — and two days ago I held a brain, a human brain. So I’ve been learning about the parts of the brain and the parts of the heart and what certain organs do,” said student Justice Paige.
The Manor High School student wants to be a doctor and so does Wesley Bias-Saunders from Norcom High.
“I really want to help people and I really like science and I believe I can blend those two passions into medicine,” Bias-Saunders said.
Jennifer Kim from Northampton High is not so sure about being a doctor.
“I was, like, fascinated but kind of grossed out by, like, all the blood I saw in the videos, so I don’t think I could actually put my hands in a person and, like, fix them,” she said.
That’s OK, though.
“It is our hope that even if they don’t want to go into medicine, it allows them to explore different careers across the spectrum of healthcare,” EVMS Health Sciences Academy Director Julie Stoner said.
This camp is about opening eyes and opportunities, Stoner said.
“So that they can go into a field that they maybe didn’t know existed,” Stoner said.
Stoner said hopefully, the students will stick around and create the future of health care here in Hampton Roads.
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