FINDLAY, Ohio — Middle school students from the Chicago area are attending a summer camp in northwest Ohio.
Chicago's Bouchet International School students are at the University of Findlay this week. The idea is to get them excited about a career in health care.
It is the first year for the Health Professions Camp. The camp is funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and its Eliminating Generational Racial Health Disparities Initiative.
The goal is not only to expose students to all of the career opportunities they could have in the medical field, but also to engage them at a young age.
"Knowing earlier that you can achieve different careers and this is what it's going to take to do that, we believe is really important," Debra Parker, Dean of the College of Pharmacy at UF, said.
"Getting students to think about what their future might be, what connections they might make," Tina Franklin-Bertrand, primary years program coordinator at Bouchet International, said. "Be it the obvious, or the subtle, there's a world of possibilities out there for them."
UF made sure to connect these students with minority camp counselors and tried to have mainly minority teachers as well to show examples of success in this industry.
"We're providing them with examples and potential mentors of students and health professionals who are minority and serving in those roles," Parker said.
Camp organizers said that the event has been so successful for everyone involved that they're already looking into making this a regular occurrence.
At the same time, future pharmacists are getting a hands-on lesson in their career of choice at UF as well.
More than 40 high school juniors and seniors are taking part in the 16th University of Findlay Pharmacy Camp.
Along with hands-on, real-world simulated activities, campers are also offered a chance to explore the different ways pharmacists work with other health professions.
Many of the campers who attend as incoming seniors tend to come back as pharmacy students after graduating.
"This experience gives them a chance to know what our program feels like, what our campus is like. They develop some comfort and maybe even a future roommate," Parker said. "It's not uncommon for us to see those campers come back as future students here and eventually camp counselors themselves."
Parker said that seniors who attend the camp are also eligible for a pharmacy scholarship.