Columbia VA HCS Summer Student Program concludes for 2024
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Each year, the Columbia VA Health Care System hosts a summer student program for high school students from the ages of 14 to 17 years old to volunteer for eight weeks with medical professionals within the medical center.
The program has served over 1,000 students, and this year 58 students from 26 local high schools participated in the program.
The program provides students with an opportunity to obtain practical experience within the medical field to help them determine what to pursue and how to achieve their career goals.
“The goal is to engage young people while they're still in high school and help pick those interests and steer them toward medical science if they're interested in that,” said Robert Kappel, a voluntary service specialist. “And then specifically, get them a taste for serving Veterans with the hope of them coming back to serve at the VA. And it's kind of an entry into that path and we've seen it work. We have people that are working here or working at a VA elsewhere that started off as a student here in the past, so we're thankful for that.”
The program is broken up into two different segments. There is the summer student program and a newer medical science program.
The summer student program offers an opportunity where students can experience the clinical side of the medical center. Additionally, the medical science student program, which was integrated as an additional program three years ago, provides students with the opportunity to experience the medical science side of the medical center.
The summer student program requires students to accomplish 120 hours of volunteering within the eight-week program, and the medical science student program requires students to achieve at least 150 hours of volunteering, including attending lectures and demonstrations on top of working in clinical areas throughout the hospital.
Some additional training the students received includes CPR certification, scholarship information class, resume writing class, innovation and technology class, and a career day.
“I think that all the experience that they receive in a clinical setting plus all the individual instruction we give them in professional training…all those things put together I think benefit the young people on helping round them out a little bit,” added Kappel.
Zoe Glenn, student at Midlands Technical College, was a prior high school student that participated in the program who came back this year to be a mentor in the program. She emphasized, “All of the kids are fun and interesting. I’m glad I got to be a mentor this year.”
Glenn highlighted the program’s visit with the Center for Disease Control Atlanta stating, “That was a fun experience. The students had the opportunity to map their own DNA and see how the CDC uses DNA in disease research.”
In addition to providing experiences to students to pique their interest in medicine and medical science, Kappel stated that the students have a positive impact on the Veterans. “A lot of times I will see Veterans interacting with our students and they really light up seeing a young person who has taken the time to you know, maybe hand them some cookies or to help them check in or whatever the case may be,” said Kappel. “They also they see that they're young people, but they see on their shirt that they're volunteering and they're there because they want to be, so I think it has a positive impact for our Veterans around the facility.”
Students who are interested in participating in the program should contact their school’s guidance counselor. The summer student program and medical science program have different processes for their applications.
Those wanting to apply for the summer student program must fill out an application with a letter of recommendation from a teacher. For the medical science student program, they must fill out a regular summer application plus a medical science application which is three pages long. They will also need a letter from a current teacher and a guidance counselor.