OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – Creighton University is inspiring the next generation of medical professionals at a very young age.
The university’s “mini medical school” event is helping to fill a critical need.
4th graders Madison Woodberry and Winnie Spurlock are extracting DNA from strawberries.
“It’s goopy, its gross, the only fun thing about it was smashing it,” said Cottonwood Elementary School student Madison Woodberry.
Despite some sticky fingers, the experiment’s purpose is to expose kids like Madison and Winnie to careers in healthcare.
“It is important to expose them early because many times they do not get this exposure until they get later on in school,” explained Creighton Senior Associate Dean Dr. Ronn Johnson.
“Until that time it’s almost too late for them to get into the kind of things they need to be doing early on in their educational experiences.”
Dissecting fruit wasn’t the only activity on the itinerary. Future medical professionals explored models and spoke with experts. Experiences like Creighton’s “mini med school” can help fill critical gaps in the healthcare system.
“We have two different populations that we serve, we have the urban population and the rural population,” said Dr. Johnson. “Those are typically underrepresented communities that actually need to have more doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals involved in providing services.”
This is Creighton’s fifth year hosting this type of program. A similar event inspired 2nd year Creighton medical student Audrey Zahng when she was a kid.
“It definitely led to that spark that drove me to pursue and got me interested in medicine,” said Zahng.
Madison Woodberry tells First Alert 6 she is inspired to join the medical field by her mom who is a nurse.
“How she can just help all of these people that is in need,” said Madison. “And how you can get all these people to be unsick and it just feels good to be helping.”
Winnie Spurlock tells First Alert 6, she is not 100% sure if she will enter the field but says she is thinking about it.
“I have always been interested in the science of medicine, and I feel like its just really interesting the way it works,” said Winnie.
More than 60 metro students participated in Saturday’s event. Creighton plans to hold two more events just like this for middle and high school students.
The program serves about 250 students each year across seven one-day sessions. The University’s goal is to host 1,000 mini medical school students annually.
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