OUWB Program Teaches High School Students Important Career Skills

Thursday, Aug 23, 2018

OUWB Beaumont Future Medical Scholars Program Teaches High School Students Important Career Skills

professor standing in front of a periodic table of the elements chart, holding a model of a human torso, with two students on his right

OUWB Foundational Medical Studies Assistant Professor Claudio Cortes taught the weekly sessions with assistance from OUWB medical student volunteers, from left to right, Aryana Sharrak and Alyssa Perozich.

The five-week OUWB Beaumont Future Medical Scholars (BFMS) pipeline program, in collaboration with Cranbrook Horizons-Upward Bound, introduces about 30 Detroit-area high school students to the many avenues of medical education and career paths in medicine.

In their weekly sessions, students learn about the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, gain hands-on experience with human torso models, blood pressure cuffs, stethoscopes, and other devices, and work in teams to develop presentations about a cardiovascular or respiratory disease.

The project topics selected by the groups included congenital heart defects, cardiac arrest, congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease and streptococcus pneumonia, most of which were chosen because a student in the group had a personal connection to the disease.

three students standing in front of a periodic table of the elements chart, working with a model of a human head and torso

Cranbrook Horizons Upward-Bound students learn about the
anatomy of the human body as part of the OUWB Beaumont
Future Medical Scholars pipeline program.

M2 Alyssa Perozich volunteered to help OUWB Foundational Medical Studies Assistant Professor and the BFMS Faculty Curriculum Coordinator Claudio Cortes, Ph.D. She was pleased to find this long-term opportunity where she could get to know youths in the community.

“This summer, I was able to build relationships with the kids I taught, and hopefully I empowered them and made an impact,” Perozich says.

Perozich believes that the skills taught in this program, even if the students do not a pursue a career in medicine, like teamwork, public speaking skills and communication, can transcend to any field or path.

“The main takeaway, regardless of career goals or aspirations, was to help the students build skills for researching, working with a team and presenting on a challenging and unfamiliar topic of interest,” she says. “We wanted to show them that they have the knowledge, skills and capability to teach themselves about something that seems foreign and complex.”

Cranbrook Horizons Upward Bound is a year-round academic program that prepares students with limited opportunities for entering and succeeding in post-secondary education.