Ten honor students participated in the Holdrege Summer Honors Program this month at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.
The goal of the workshop is to encourage high school students to pursue careers in the health sciences with the hope that they may someday practice health care in rural Nebraska where critical shortages of health care professionals remains a major concern.
The students learned about UNMC’s academic programs, attended lectures, and did research in their area of interest. At the end of the workshop, students researched and developed papers about their findings.
“We always enjoy hosting this program for our Holdrege Summer Honors students,” said Lisa Jewell, director of the UNMC Youth Learning Center. “I try to schedule presentations and topics they may not have available to them in their rural communities.”
After attending the presentation at UNMC, the students go back to their hometowns and job shadow health care professionals in their communities.
One of the projects the students worked on was concocting their own “compounds” using cake frosting and food coloring in the model pharmacy in the UNMC College of Pharmacy. Charles Krobot, Pharm.D., associate dean for academic affairs in the College of Pharmacy, supervised the students on this project.
The Holdrege Summer Honors Program is hosted by the UNMC Youth Learning Center.
The 2009 Holdrege Summer Honors Program participants, their schools and hometowns are:
- Brooke Ballou, Cambridge High School, Wilsonville
- Justin Boutwell, Holdrege High School, Holdrege
- Michaela Gray, Holdrege High School, Holdrege
- Margo Huggins, Alma Public High School, Alma
- Sierra Jones, Bertrand High School, Holdrege
- Julie Kring, Axtell Community High School, Axtell
- Kali Metzger, Alma Public High School, Republican City
- Travis Pieper, Eustis-Farnam High School, Farnam
- Rachel Schnoor, Minden High School, Minden
- Katie Shelton, Minden High School, Kenesaw