Ten students from Orlando’s Bishop Moore High School toured the UCF College of Medicine Tuesday in the college’s first “real world” learning experience for local young people who are interested in medicine.
The high school students are enrolled in Bishop Moore’s Honors Human Anatomy and Physiology class. Their instructor, Kenn Wasinger, a UCF alum, describes the eager youngsters as “pre-pre-med students” who want to become doctors or other health care professionals. Wasinger turned to the College of Medicine to provide a unique real-world experience, which included watching a video on anatomy, working in the college’s anatomy lab and the students’ written pledge to respect the human specimens they were studying. UCF Professors Jane Gibson, Mohammed Khalil, Andrew Payer and Garrett Riggs coordinated the visit.
“It’s so nice to see these young, energetic minds,” Gibson said of the Bishop Moore students. “They did outstandingly well. They learned a lot. And our medical school students were phenomenal. I’m so proud of all of them. They were real professional educators today.”
Wasinger has 70 students in his honors class and had the tough assignment of picking 10 students to take the UCF tour. “There were 60 sets of wet eyes when I announced who was coming,” he said.
According to Wasinger, about 98 percent of Bishop Moore’s graduates go on to college, many at UCF. He said the opportunity for students to visit an actual medical school while they are still in high school is an invaluable experience that few young people ever receive.
Kim Paschall, a curriculum resource teacher for Orange County Public Schools, joined the Bishop Moore class on the tour. She hopes to find ways of incorporating College of Medicine tours as part of the county’s science curriculum. Paschall said such activities provide students with hands-on exposure to 21st century medical technology and education.
“This kind of experience goes along with my favorite saying in education,” she said. “It is an old Chinese proverb: I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.”