Teens Explore Health Care Professions
Lauren Prosser participated in the five-week High School Exploration Program at Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas.
While their peers enjoyed lazy days at the beach or punched the clock flipping burgers, thirty-three enterprising high school students donned scrubs to learn about health care at Scripps. The teens worked at Scripps for five weeks as participants in the High School Exploration Program – rotating through dozens of areas, including the emergency department, operating room, birth pavilion, engineering, case management and integrative medicine. The students also had an opportunity to have lunch with leaders at Scripps, including Scripps President and CEO Chris Van Gorder and Chief Medical Officer Brent Eastman, MD.
Launched by Scripps in 2008, the program gives students hands-on experience in the health care field. Students explore health care career options and learn about health and healing. In 2011, Scripps received 120 applications, interviewed 40 students and accepted 33. To date, more than 90 students have participated in the program, which began with 12 students.
The High School Exploration Program is a partnership between Regional Allied Health and Science Initiative, which works with local schools to expand health care education curriculum.