CHSU Hosts Health Camp for Sherman Thomas STEM Academy

California Health Sciences University hosted 30 students going into 7th, 8th, and 9th grade from the Sherman Thomas STEM Academy in Madera for the first middle school Health Camp at CHSU on Wednesday, June 27. At the one-day summer Health Camp, students spent the day being introduced to careers and opportunities in the health care field in an interactive way.
The students were placed into teams and guided by CHSU Doctor of Pharmacy students and high school and college students who participate in the CHSU/CVS Health Próspero Program: Pathway to Pharmacy Careers, who served as mentors. CHSU Pharmacy students Tiffany Do (P3), Yvonne Phan (P1), and Christian Xiong (P1) along with Próspero Program students: Sierra Berger, Shyanne Berger, Nuha Ahmed and Nicole Bahn, really enjoyed the leadership opportunity at Health Camp.
The teams were given opportunities to earn points throughout the day to encourage some friendly competition and engagement. The top 3 teams with the most points received prized, like backpacks, custom CHSU notepads, and drawstring bags with goodies.
Anna Yang, Health Sciences Librarian and Lina Vang (P4), Library Assistant, created a new game called, Unlocking the Hero Health Care Provider, specifically for the Health Camp! The students, teachers, and an administrator from the Madera County Superintendent’s Office were very complimentary as they really enjoyed this interactive and informative game where student teams had to solve 9 different games hosted by 12 different health providers from several different disciplines to get all of the clues and solve the final puzzle! Through each game, students learned about each particular career and received a “Hero Health Care Provider” card. These cards were used to solve a code at the end to unlock a backpack filled with prizes. The students even got to take a set of the cards home to reinforce their understanding of the different health care roles!
The students also engaged in educational, hands-on experiences to learn about taking a blood pressure, Medication Therapy Management (MTM), and Over-the-Counter (OTC) medication label reading.
CHSU Faculty members Sree N. Pattipati, PhD, Associate Professor of Pharmacology; Dr. Anitha Shenoy, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pharmacology; and Vinayak Shenoy, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pharmacology, introduced the students to the fields of research and prescription drug development, including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval process of medication. Then they students used high power microscopes to view cells used in the research process.
Towards the end of the day, students played an interactive bingo game. Students also learned about CHSU, the Doctor of Pharmacy program offered, and specifics about careers in pharmacy. Students were excited to discover that the average pharmacist starting salary in our region is about $135,000.
“Health Camp at CHSU created six hours of powerful, engaging, and memorable experiences for our students,” said Jamie Brock, Principal of Sherman Thomas STEM Academy.
CHSU would like to thank Sherman Thomas STEM Academy for participating in our Health Camp and the health care providers that educated students on the roles of various careers within the medical field. Special thanks to Richele Kleiser, VP for Marketing and Communications, and Julia Wiebe, Marketing Assistant, for their role in helping to plan, organize, and host this great event!
To see more photos from the event, visit our Facebook photo album here.