The University of Nebraska Medical Center Student Association
for Rural Health, made up of students from rural areas studying
at UNMC, sponsored its first Rural Health Professions Career Day
recently. The event targeted high school students from rural
areas who are interested in careers in the health professions.
About 150 high school students from 38 rural communities
learned about opportunities in medicine, nursing, pharmacy,
dentistry, psychology, physical therapy, medical technology and
other fields. They watched presentations, visited with health
professionals and toured UNMC and University Hospital.
Ted Tucker, a UNMC second-year medical student from Newman
Grove, and president of the organization, said the goal was to
educate rural students on opportunities in the health
professions. "Nebraska high school students who may be
thinking about a career in medicine can benefit from this event.
This type of information would have been very beneficial to me
when I was going to high school."
Roxanna Jokela, coordinator, UNMC Rural Health Education
Network, said high school students were given a chance to find
out first hand from UNMC students what they need to know about a
health career and what they need to do to get prepared.
"Students made the presenta-tions, and UNMC provided staff
to answer some of the questions such as how to prepare
them-selves academically and how to finance their
education."
UNMC is planning to hold the event each year, anticipating
beginning this mid-October, Jokela said. Each year, 50 high
schools in small communities will be notified and the selection
process of inviting high school students by the schools will
begin.
BELOW ARE THE UNMC STUDENTS WHO WERE INVOLVED IN THE EVENT,
AS WELL AS THEIR HOMETOWN AND FIELD OF STUDY:
ALBION — Jen Bengston, medicine
AUBURN — Lori Beach, physical therapy
BARTLEY — Shawn Pew, radiology
BLUE HILL — Alicia Johnson, medicine
BURWELL — J.B. Svoboda, medicine
DONIPHAN — Kara Anderson, radiology
FAIRFIELD — Julie Herbek, radiology
MCCOOK — Joey Ruff, radiology
MERNA — John Jacobsen, medicine
MINDEN — Mary Bloomfield, physical therapy
NEWMAN GROVE — Ted Tucker, medicine
NORFOLK — Stacy Blum, medicine
PIERCE — Amy Albrecht, physical therapy and Brant
Leubbe, medicine
SPRINGVIEW — Brent Weston, physical therapy
ELBING, KAN. — Sara Birky, nursing
BELOW ARE THE NAMES, TOWNS AND HIGH SCHOOLS OF THOSE WHO
WERE INVITED TO THE EVENT:
ALBION — ALBION PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Shawn Gray, Adam Haave, Tony Levander and Kristen
Maricle
ANSLEY — ANSLEY HIGH SCHOOL
Kristen Critchfield, Jenny Ferguson and Edward Stiner
BARTLETT — WHEELER CENTRAL HIGH
Valerie Bykerk, Brandi Heiden, Mitch Patrick and Cory
Poulsen
BLAIR — BLAIR COMMUNITY SCHOOLS
Jeff Dick, Josh Dick, Amanda Peterson and Anna Saville
BURWELL — BURWELL JUNIOR-SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Heather Andrews, Alison Jurgensen, Cody Goodrich and
Kasey Pelster
CEDAR RAPIDS — CEDAR RAPIDS JUNIOR-SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Michelle Buettner and Kelly Cox
COLUMBUS — SCOTUS CENTRAL CATHOLIC
Jana Buelt, Lisa Hegeman, Carrie Mustard, Chris Riley
and Amy Wemhoff
DAYKIN — MERIDIAN HIGH SCHOOL
Tami Sobotka, Kim Schoenbeck, Edward Raney and Laura
Krupicka
DAWSON — DAWSON-VERDON PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Brenna Bennett, Kristi Hilgenfield, Katie Mueller and
Brandon Ruch
FAIRBURY — FAIRBURY JUNIOR-SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Sara Alderman, Kate Ebke, Jennifer Hefti and Darren
Schmidt
FALLS CITY — FALLS CITY SENIOR HIGH
Jamie Frederick, Kelly Lock, Syd Merz and Laura
Schawang
FREMONT — FREMONT SENIOR HIGH
Brooke Goracke, Emily Nuding, Elly Metschke and Jessy
Strong
HEBRON — HEBRON HIGH SCHOOL
Rebecca Bargen, Hillary Hoins, Brandon McLaughlin and
Nick Wegener
HUMPHREY — HUMPHREY HIGH SCHOOL
Steph Irwin and Jenny Macken
HUMPHREY — ST. FRANCIS CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL
Shelly Albracht, Carmen Huettner, Lisa Huettner and
Angie Korth
MERNA — ANSELMO-MERNA HIGH SCHOOL
Meghan Keller and Loyd Olson
NELIGH — NELIGH-OAKDALE JUNIOR-SENIOR HIGH
Erin Beck, Raeann Miller and Derek Sonnenfelt
NEWMAN GROVE — NEWMAN GROVE HIGH SCHOOL
Brenda Borg, Melissa Enfield, Chris Havel and Monica
Lee
NORTH PLATTE — GREAT PLAINS-MEDICAL EXPLORERS
Jacque Beckman, Laura Forster, Marcy Kelly, Chele
McFarland, Shawn Murdock, Emily Sexton, Kortney Thompson
and Mandy Williams
O’NEILL — O’NEILL HIGH SCHOOL
Matt Booth, Morgan Cemper, Melissa Dempsey, Nikki
Kloppenborg, Jessica McGill, Megan Munter, Krystal
Nicolaus, Karene Reiter, Mandy Rowe and Andy Vandemheen
ORD — ORD HIGH SCHOOL
Dawn Dworak, Christopher Estudillo, Jessie Fread,
Deanne Jonak, Katie Kovarik, Stephanie Martin, Jessica
Peterson and Kathryn Valasek
PALMYRA — PALMYRA HIGH SCHOOL
Jaimie Barnes, Carrie Jensen, Angela Schmidt and
Annette Wehnes
PIERCE — PIERCE HIGH SCHOOL
Tierney Berger, Chelsea Bailey, Nicole Dranota, Karie
Holan, Sara Meinke, Sarah Navrkal, Elly Pranl, Dana
Woslager and Jennifer Woslager
PLATTSMOUTH — PLATTSMOUTH HIGH SCHOOL
Jesse Grosshans, Heather Reese, Jamie Schuster and Kathryn
Vance
RED CLOUD — RED CLOUD HIGH SCHOOL
Jennifer Kugler and Taleena Orcutt
ROSELAND — SILVER LAKE HIGH SCHOOL
Elizabeth Flesner, Tracey Johansen and Marisa Zeadow
SEWARD — SEWARD HIGH SCHOOL
Dara Green, Peter Hess, Nick Southard and Julie
Wilhelm
TEKAMAH — TEKAMAH-HERMAN HIGH SCHOOL
Jamie Hansen and Tanya Tajouri
TILDEN — ELKHORN VALLEY SCHOOLS
Amy Dolesh, Katie Zurcher, Gina Spulak and Jamie Staub
UTICA — CENTENNIAL PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Sarah Fritz, Theresa Coffey, Carrie Rohweder and
Brandie Butler
WAHOO — WAHOO HIGH SCHOOL
Jereme Hartman, Michelle Miller, Sara Rodriguez and
Tyler Toline
WAYNE — WAYNE HIGH SCHOOL
Sarah Dorcey, David Ensz, Matt Meyer and Brooke Parker
WEEPING WATER — WEEPING WATER HIGH SCHOOL
Julie Liess and Jackie Saxton
WEST POINT — WEST POINT HIGH SCHOOL
Brian Hotovy
WILBER — WILBER-CLATONIA HIGH SCHOOL
Sara Glasgow, Heather Nicholson, Keith Placek and Jeff
Vlcan