Medical students teach campers lessons in STEM and life

Whiddon College of Medicine students led a Mini Medical School summer camp for kids in the Alabama School of Mathematics and Science's STEM Leadership Academy.

Local middle school students had the opportunity to attend a summer camp that not only introduced them to the field of medicine but also taught them some important life lessons. The Alabama School of Mathematics and Science (ASMS) hosts the camp, called Mini Medical School, each summer as part of its STEM Leadership Academy. 

This year, second-year medical students Grace Sekaya, Jade Crabtree and Noel Godang coordinated two one-week sessions of the camp for rising seventh- through ninth-graders. Numerous faculty and staff from the Whiddon College of Medicine also contributed to the camp’s success.

Godang, who graduated from ASMS in 2019, had previously volunteered with the school’s summer camps. He enjoyed leading the Mini Medical School this year with his classmates Sekaya and Crabtree, he said.

“These kids are incredibly bright. It was a fun opportunity to expose the next generation to different fields in healthcare, especially medicine, and get their gears turning into a possible future career,” Godang said. “The students were always engaged, and their curiosity shined throughout the week at camp. They got to experience different simulations and thoroughly enjoyed our simulation of what to do when a patient codes and having to do CPR as a team.”

Campers practice their suturing techniques.

Campers were introduced to learning how to suture, patient-centered interviewing skills, steps to formulating a diagnosis, understanding X-rays and ultrasound, and a special panel exploring the world of healthcare. During field trips to the Whiddon College of Medicine, they had the chance to tour the medical school, participate in a simulation lab, engage in an ultrasound class designed just for them, and attend a panel with the admissions team. 

While the camp focused on exposing the students to STEM subjects and the field of medicine, Sekaya said, “more than that, it allowed a space for each camper to hopefully learn some important lessons to carry no matter where their heart leads them later in life.”

One of the many lessons learned in medical school is “the beauty of being comfortable with being uncomfortable,” she said. “Camp exposed the kids to complex science that they may have not yet been exposed to, big words that they sometimes could not utter back, working with other team members that they may not have talked to if not paired, and much more.”

“We gave them a small insight into medical school, but overall what I got out of it the most was seeing the growth of confidence in each camper each day as they pushed through the uncomfortable – whether through case presentations or ‘seeing a patient’ and becoming more OK with saying ‘I don't know’ sometimes,” she added. “To me, those can be the most valuable lessons taken away in the end.” 

Sekaya said the Mini Medical School would not have been possible without the support of fellow medical student volunteers; the Whiddon COM admissions team; the USA simulation lab team; and Vaughn Lee, Ph.D., and Greg Brower, DVM, Ph.D., both professors of medical education. She also acknowledged panel participants T.J. Hundley, M.D., associate dean for medical education; Maryann Mbaka, M.D., assistant professor of surgery; Yun Coronado, M.D., assistant professor of internal medicine; and Carey Johnson, M.D., pediatrics resident.

View more photos from the Mini Medical School summer camp. 

Students learn how to perform CPR in the simulation lab.