Fall Semester Recap & Future Events

Now that the Fall semester has ended, I wanted to do a little recap of the events that our pre-health students attended. We had lots of fun and exciting things going on both on and off campus this semester!

Danielle Theis: 2018 WALC Champion

Weekly Events

• We hosted our first ever Weekly Anatomical Language Challenge (WALC) on Wednesdays throughout the semester. Students competed each week for a bag of candy and the glory that comes with being the week's champion. They also worked to climb the leaderboard that we kept posted here on The Atrium for their chance to win a free t-shirt by semester's end. The 2018 WALC Champion was Danielle Theis, who is now immortalized on our WALC of Fame in the Pre-Health Pathways office.

• We had many students attend Rapid City Regional Hospital's Grand Rounds events on Friday mornings throughout the semester. These events offered a free breakfast along with lectures from both local experts and representatives of other institutions. Each topic was different and interesting, giving students exposure to lots of different research relating to an array of specialties in health care.

Off-Campus Events

• Several students attended the day-long Research and Compliance Conference hosted by Regional Health. Here, they learned about research ethics and the compliance protocols set forth by federal mandates for conducting clinical research.

Hunter Roy, Liam Jensen, Samantha Johnson, & Jacey Merkle attend the Research and Compliance Conference.

• A few students attended an Open House for Avera's Center for Pediatric and Community Research. The students got a tour of the facility and learned about internship opportunities for those interested in joining the research team at this local center that is doing so much good for our community.

• Several students attended a pre-shadowing tour of Rapid City Regional Hospital in advance of setting up shadowing opportunities at the facility.

Dr. J takes a pre-shadowing tour selfie with pre-health students,
Kaelyn Kaul, Danielle Theis, Alexia Hodgson, Kaylee Wilson, & Kelcy Bentley.

• Students were also invited to attend several events at the Rapid City USD Sanford School of Medicine campus. These events included:
• Beyond the Borders Poster Session
• A guest lecture by Dr. Morrow about parasites for Halloween
• Ethics Discussion Panel
• A teaching presentation by a candidate applying for a position at the Sanford School of Medicine

Health Professions Week (HPW)

• We hosted several events during Health Professions Week (November 5th-9th) including:
•  Daily information on various health care career options
• Live-streamed lectures & panel discussions
• Beyond Classification – Mr. LeDerick Horne
• Navigating Your Journey on the Academic Sea – Dr. Christine Grant
• Advocacy Panel Discussion
• Various live-chat & virtual fairs via ExploreHealthCareers.org/hpw 
• Sanford Health Virtual Career Fair information
• Informational session with Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine
• Meet-&-Greet with Medical Lab Scientist Sandra Lashley
• USD Medical Student Discussion Panel: All About Applying to Medical School

Students learn basic suture techniques on a pig's foot.

Pre-Health Pathways-Hosted Events

• USD Medical Student Discussion Panel: Adventures in Interviewing
• Meet-&-Greet with Donna Vorhees of the Health Effects Institute
• Suture lab & Health Professions Scholarship Program information with the U.S. Army
• Movie screening of the documentary Resistance and post-film discussion about antibiotic stewardship

Moving Forward...
The Spring 2019 semester is sure to see many similar events as well as a few new things for our pre-health student community. We will still be attending Grand Rounds on Friday mornings and plan to have more medical student panels, informational sessions, and pre-shadowing tours. We also plan to be doing a weekly physiology challenge (details to come!).

Here are a few other things in the works for next semester:

• Mock MCAT Exam (Sunday, January, 13th)
• Cell Line Culture Training (March)
• Professional Essay Workshop (March/April)
• Movie Screenings (various times)

Thanks for a great semester and we look forward to seeing more of you this Spring! 

Feel free to contact Dr. J if you are interested in any of our future (or past) events and want to know more about how you can be involved in the pre-health community here at SD Mines!