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Regional High School Students Explore Medical Careers

By Charlie Keegan

Story Created: Feb 1, 2012 at 7:41 PM MDT

Story Updated: Feb 1, 2012 at 7:41 PM MDT

Doctors, nurses and physical therapists, the health career field is nearly limitless. Regional high school students got an up close and personal look at a variety of jobs Wednesday at MSU-Great Falls.

The health career fair first started four years ago to highlight the high demand for health care professionals. Wednesday, 240 students learned what medical career might be best for them.

From physical therapy to surgery, high school students got an inside look at several health care specialties. “It was interesting. I think it was really cool how they have everything set up in there,” Centerville High School sophomore Shelby Koppany explains.

The set up in there is made to simulate a real hospital. It’s complete with an emergency room, ambulance and operating room.

For Koppany, Wednesday’s fair opened her eyes to new health care options. “Originally, I was kind of thinking more towards the mental health field, like psychology or something like that. But coming here, I’ve been looking at surgical options,” she says.

Another sophomore has always known she wanted to follow her parents’ footsteps and become a doctor. “I want to be a dermatologist,” Great Falls Central Catholic student Maria Bertha states.

The future Dr. Bertha says it's nice to get a feel for what a medical job might be like. Saying, “You need to know what you’re doing. You can’t just blindly go into a career field and end up hating what you do.”

Education is part of a medical professional's job and the event organizer hopes the college students take advantage of their chance to interact with high schoolers. “I think it’s exciting for the college students because they can relate to where the high school students are because they were there at one point themselves,” explains Charlene Marshall, the event coordinator.

This is good practice for the college students. In their future careers, Marshall knows the collegians will need to educate the public about disease prevention and healthy activities.

MSU-Great Falls is hosting an open house Tuesday, February 7th from 5 pm to 7 pm. At the free event you can explore the simulated hospital and learn about the school's programs just like the high school students did Wednesday. For more information, call Erica Rominger, Recruitment Program Coordinator, at (406)771.5132 or email her here.

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