Each year, a select group of second-year medical students from the Larner College of Medicine are recruited to join the Vermont Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) Scholars program to serve as mentors and role models at summer programs across the state for Vermont youth interested in learning about careers in health and medicine. Through teaching, demonstrations, role-modeling, and advising on key concepts in health science—including knowledge, skills, and abilities in clinical patient care, teamwork, communication, self-awareness, professionalism, and career pathway planning—the Larner medical students seek to inspire participants to learn more about topics that ignite their passion, and perhaps consider a career in health and medicine.
These early pipeline programs are a key component of Vermont AHEC’s efforts to grow the Green Mountain State’s health workforce by providing a long-term strategy that informs students—especially those in rural and underserved areas—about training opportunities, education pathways, and urgently needed health occupations at all levels.
The Northern Vermont AHEC’s Governor’s Institutes of Vermont (GIV) Institute on Health & Medicine and the Southern Vermont AHEC’s MedQuest program offer Vermont high school students opportunities to explore a variety of health careers in a rich learning environment. With their engaging content and group discussions, clinical skill-building and team activities, job shadowing, mentoring, and dialogue with health professionals, these early pipeline programs are a key component of Vermont AHEC’s efforts to grow the Green Mountain State’s health workforce by providing a long-term strategy that informs students—especially those in rural and underserved areas—about training opportunities, education pathways, and urgently needed health occupations at all levels.
The Governor’s Institutes of Vermont Health & Medicine Institute
Held this year on the University of Vermont campus July 12–18, the annual Governor’s Institutes of Vermont Health & Medicine Institute is a week-long residential science enrichment and career exploration program for high school students led by Northern Vermont AHEC. Larner medical students serve as program staff and work as part of an interprofessional team to create and lead active, hands-on learning modules on topics ranging from general medicine and patient care, surgery, and diagnostic imagery, to respiratory health, multiple fields in nursing, emergency medicine, and pre-hospital care, to neuroscience and psychology, biomedical research engineering, dentistry, rehabilitation therapy, and more.
Students come from all across Vermont to attend the Health & Medicine Institute. Nakyah Furtado was inspired to explore medicine after a family member’s health battle. “This year my mom got diagnosed with follicular lymphoma and I thought this institute would be a very good experience for me to learn about health and medicine to more or less learn things about her condition,” Furtado said in an interview with WCAX-TV.
Fellow student Alexis Hebert told WCAX she wanted to be ready whenever an emergency is thrown her way. “I babysit, so making sure they’re safe is my main priority and you never know when an emergency will happen, just making sure you can always help out.”
GIV Health & Medicine mentors/instructors included Larner Class of 2029 medical students Hamza Azhar Karim, Jessa Bradley, Selena Henry, Foster Horton, Emma McMahan, Stephanie Miller, Sithara Nambiar, Anna Paritsky, Isabel Park, Gabreilla Pedro, Romoye Sohan, and Ann Wong.
MedQuest
Southern Vermont AHEC’s three-day non-residential MedQuest program, held this year July 20–22 at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center in Bennington and July 29–31 at Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center in Windsor, is another opportunity for high school students to explore careers in health care. Through workshops and job shadowing, students learn basic medical skills and terminology, get an up close and personal look at a variety of careers in the health care workforce, and are introduced to options for career and education tracks for their future development.
Emma Anderson, a rising senior at Burr and Burton Academy in Manchester, was excited to be able to choose the specialty she wanted to shadow. “Because then I can tailor it to my interest … I want to be a child psychologist, so I can look into pediatrics and be like, wow, like, this is what I want to do,” she told WPTZ-TV in an interview.
Mentors/Instructors at MedQuest included Larner Class of 2029 medical students Margaux Eller, Daron Forohar, Joseph Gallo, Grace Giroux, Eric Goodney, and Tariq Qayum.
“As a first-generation student who has been afforded the opportunities of pursuing higher education through the support of the mentors I had, it is especially important for me to be able to provide guidance and encouragement to the next generation,” said Larner medical student Tariq Qayum ’29. “Programs such as MedQuest give students an opportunity to explore health care while also aiding them to see that a career in medicine, nursing, and other adjacent fields is possible for them.”
