Backstage Pass gives OPS students a glimpse at allied health careers

For many high school students, life beyond school still is a mystery, and a daunting one at that. That is where UNMC’s College of Allied Health Professions stepped in last week.  

The college hosted a special Backstage Pass event with students from Benson High School and Omaha Public Schools’ new Westview High School to give them a glimpse into what allied health careers might offer them.  

Booths from all of the UNMC allied health programs were set up with specialized and interactive activities that professionals in these careers use in their day-to-day practice, including microscopes for students to peer through, MRI scans and X-rays to analyze, family trees to explore and other specialized technology and equipment used during exams or procedures.

Kaitlyn Uwazurike, DPT, an assistant professor of physical therapy, helped facilitate her program’s booth and enjoyed imparting her passion and guidance onto students. 

“The students were genuinely excited about the other stations they visited, and you could tell they were having a lot of fun,” Uwazurike said. “They kept returning to our booth to compete with their peers for the best grip strength.” 

The group of more than 150 high schoolers are part of health care-specific programs designed to set them up for success in medical careers before they enter college. The students have a unique insight into numerous career paths within the health care field but can gain only so much knowledge from learning in a classroom. 

“Seeing a hands-on experience, they’ll be like ‘Miss! Did you know they do this?’ and I’m like ‘Yeah! We talked about it in class,’” said Robyn Jernigan, lead teacher for the Health Profession Academy at Benson High School.

“But it’s real. Now it’s real. Now it’s a profession they can do, not just this information on a screen.”

For the past seven years, Benson has paved a path for numerous students into health and medical fields through the Health Professions Academy. 

Day Pla Htoo, a Health Professions Academy student, said his favorite booths were physical therapy and respiratory care, the College of Allied Health Professions’ newest program opening in 2024. Htoo, who is interested in becoming a cardiothoracic surgeon, said the day was an eye-opening experience. 

The event “opened up my mind about different medical fields,” Htoo said. “Seeing from their perspective … you can actually see what they’ve been through throughout their career.” 

Westview offers numerous pathways programs for unique educational discovery and career exploration before students go on to higher education.

Rachael Arens, EdD, Westview’s curriculum specialist, said the pathways program allows students to explore many careers, as well as hone in on the careers they develop interest in through internships and job shadowing. 

Lily Malcom, a health, science and physical education teacher, described the greatest strength of Westview’s approach to learning as the ability to help students narrow options moving forward. 

“You get to experience, not necessarily failure, but things that you don’t want to do without having to be making big decisions and big commitments,” said Malcom. “This Backstage Pass gives us a great opportunity to be like, ‘What do you like, what don’t you like?’ And I think the pathways just gives them space to grow and make mistakes and learn from them.” 

Booths from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and Metropolitan Community College also provided expertise and resources on the first steps they offer before someone enters one of UNMC’s programs. 

While the career that students set for themselves now may not be the one they pursue in the future, events such as Backstage Pass will help to guide them on their path into health care. 

Said Jernigan, “Knowing can help them search, even as a senior in high school, or maybe it’s not till you’re a sophomore or junior in college that you are saying, ‘That one thing is still sticking with me, I want to look into that,’ so that search engine is important if you have the right words to search.”