BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Area high school students interested in a career in health care had the opportunity to talk with student researchers and scientists as part of a University of Vermont Cancer Center event Friday, allowing them to step out of the classroom and into a real medical lab.
Over 75 students from five high schools attended the Careers in Cancer event at the UVM Cancer Center. Students heard from guest speakers and learned about career and research pathways in oncology.
“Students have been walking through the basic research laboratories. This is something that they really don’t get exposed to in their high school education,” said the center’s Randall Holcombe.
Students looked at cancer cells, observed specialized lab equipment, and witnessed demonstrations on growing and visualizing crystals to understand protein structures.
Natalie Dzessou, a sophomore at Winooski High School, says she’s interested in the medical field and events like this help her figure out what branch she wants to work in. “I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do so I’ve just been coming to events like this and seeing what I’d like to do,” she said.
Mea Ree Jan, a junior at WHS, plans to pursue a career in cancer research and wants to aid in medical breakthroughs. “I like experiencing what a day in the life of someone working in this kind of environment was and it got me more interested because I like the kind of slow pace,” she said.
And Holcombe says it’s just that kind of generating of interest the event was designed for. “There’s a critical shortage of cancer doctors across the country and that is particularly severe in states with very large rural populations like Vermont,” he said.
It was UVM’s second Careers in Cancer event.