High school students learn about health sciences at UAlberta's Discovery Day
For well over a year Brianna Senetza has known she's interested in a career as a health professional. What the Grade 12 student from Smoky Lake wasn't clear on, though, was how to reach her goal of becoming a physiotherapist. But October 9 that path became clearer after Senetza's participation in Discovery Day in Health Sciences at the University of Alberta.
"[This program is] an eye opener. It gives you good insight about the courses you need to take and you get see what you'll actually be doing," she said.
Senetza was one of more than 200 high school students and teachers from across Northern Alberta to take part in Discovery Day, hosted by The Canadian Medical Hall of Fame and the University's Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry. Youth enjoyed a keynote lecture, a career panel and several workshops giving them hands-on experience and a chance to interact with health professionals.
"You're able to ask questions and they're able to answer them from first-hand knowledge," said Senetza. "It's cool."
The event is held each year at universities across the country, exposing youth to several careers in health sciences. At the University of Alberta, the high school students had the pick of 17 different workshops, ranging from critical care medicine to medical genetics to rehabilitation medicine. Organizers believe the experience is invaluable in helping high school students take the first step into a career in health.
"They can learn about what the options are, what the pitfalls are, what the journey entails and what they should be thinking about now if they wish to pursue a career in this area," said Lissa Foster, executive director of The Canadian Medical Hall of Fame. "Certainly the responses we get from the kids tell us that Discovery Day has incredible impact on them."
Foster believes the program also gives the youth hope if their first career choice doesn't work out. Currently only about one in 10 students who apply to medical school will ever become a physician. Foster says Discovery Day shows them there are many paths.
"We know that people in other areas in health sciences don't always get there as directly as we might think. Some folks who originally wished to be a doctor have taken another direction. What we don't want is for students to get discouraged in their pursuit of health sciences. We want them to know there are a lot of options for them beyond just medicine," said Foster.
Fraser Brenneis, the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry's vice-dean of education, adds; "this opportunity, to have high school students learn more about possible careers in health sciences, is vital to building the future health workforce for Alberta."
As for Senetza, she says her goal of joining that workforce in the future as a physiotherapist is now in sight and she's eager to start her journey.
"It makes it exciting that I could be here in soon. That's awesome because I can see exactly what I want to do now and what I will be doing."