Approximately 200 eighth grade students from Winton Middle School were on hand being introduced to some of the opportunities awaiting them with the CTE Health Science and Medical Technologies pathways offered at Atwater High School during the first-ever WMS Health & STEM Discovery Day on Friday. 

 

The middle school students were placed into groups and then escorted to different stations set up on campus that were run by the Health Science and MedTech pathway students. The stations included life saving techniques, forensic biology, sports medicine, personal protective equipment, blood pressure and CPR. “Students are getting a chance to rotate through, learn about the pathways, learn some different skills,” said AHS CTE Patient Care Pathway Teacher Raj Mehat-Murphy. “This is just a great way to kind of introduce the middle school students to what is available to them when they come to high school.”

 

The event gave the high school juniors and seniors in the CTE Health Science and Medical Technologies pathways to take the lead. It was a student-led event with students guiding the groups from station to station. Other high school students were running the stations and teaching the middle schoolers about real world medical skills, scientific concepts and healthcare careers.

 

Each station was set up to engage the eighth graders:

• At the CPR (Capstone) station, students learned life saving techniques and practiced chest compressions.
• In Biology – Decode DNA, they explored the building blocks of life and discovered how genetic information is structured.
• The Forensic Biology – Toxicology station gave students a glimpse into how scientists analyze substances and solve medical mysteries.
• At Sports Medicine – First Aid Badge Relay, participants worked as teams to practice first aid skills in a fun, fast-paced setting.
• The PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) Capstone station taught the importance of safety in healthcare and how to properly wear protective gear.
• During the STB & Assessment station, students were introduced to basic health assessments and patient evaluation skills.
• The Blood Pressure (Capstone) station allowed students to measure and understand vital signs.
• At the Stress Ball Creation (Capstone) station, students learned about stress management while creating their own stress-relief tool.
• The Anatomy – Anatomage Table/Brain station gave students an up-close look at human anatomy using advanced visualization technology.
• Finally, at the EMR – Patient Transfer station, they practiced safe patient movement techniques used in emergency medical response.

 

“I think it's really important for the kids to understand what we run here and how easy it is to access education about health care,” said Atwater High junior Selene Arroyo, who helped out at the blood pressure station. “I think it's a really good event because when I was at their school, I did not have this. We did not get introduced to anything like this, so coming into this program and learning what we have, really shows the younger kids about this amazing opportunity when they get to high school.” 

 

“Having the kids go through all the different stations, every station is different, and it's something that maybe, if they’ll see something they want to continue doing in the future,” said Atwater High senior Samantha Aguilar, who was helping run the CPR station. “They can learn more and either research it, or, once they come to high school, get into the classes, get into the pathway, and discover if it’s something they might want to do.”

 

Mehat-Murphy says the event went well with the students going from station to station and getting a glimpse of what is available at AHS. “Many of them will be here next year,” she said. “So they're getting a chance to see the campus, kind of walk around and see things and be a little bit more comfortable when they start their first week.”

Shawn Jansen is the MUHSD Program Manager Digital Media. He can be reached at Sjansen@muhsd.org.