My residency program affords us one half-day of dedicated research time per block. I used that time this week to stop by the third high school (Vista Del Lago) where I had not met any of the students yet. My schedule so far has only had me at Canyon Springs and Valley View on our high school days, and so I feel that I've been missing out on connecting with these students and their advocacy work.
I was really impressed with the range of topics this particular class chose: from prescription drug abuse to mental health awareness to driving safety. They were having a few technical difficulties with navigating their projects, as it seems most all of the groups are doing some sort of PSA/video. Their teacher is doing a wonderful job of giving them enough support and class time to get their projects perfected.
The students were excited to learn that I was a part of HOSA (formerly "Health Occupations Students of America," now just HOSA-Future Health Professionals) when I was in high school, and even competed (and failed) at the regional events!
I hope I can continue to follow with these students, even if only via e-mail, to help grow their project ideas further. I'm really pumped to to see what they have to share with the community.
MB