ROCHESTER, Minn. – The Career Immersion Program at Mayo Clinic has the goal of getting students interested in jobs in the medical field.
It’s made up of 40 students from across Minnesota, who had to apply to get in. Program leaders tell KIMT it gives them a look at health care jobs different than a doctor or nurse.
“Many of these students know they want to do something in health care,” Stacey Rizza, associate dean of Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences, said, “but don't know exactly what the opportunities are.”
Students had the chance to look at what goes on in an ambulance, and even jobs that go up in the sky.
“I was really interested in medicine, but I wasn't aware of other professions in the medical field other than like being a doctor or a nurse,” Lynh Tran, of Prior Lake, said. “So I wanted to see what else I could pursue.”
Besides emergency medicine, students also got to explore medical laboratory sciences and radiology. Throughout the week-long program, the students learn about 15 different health care careers.
Even though the students come from different places, they seem to have one common goal.
“I volunteer in a retirement home with Alzheimer's patients,” Tran said. “So while doing, that I realized that I like to help people. Even though I'm not doing very much and they don't remember me, I like helping them and I want to do something where I'm helping somebody.”
Rizza said it’s all to help students pinpoint what they want to do and get a head start, so they can complete classes in high school to qualify for these programs.
