"We also want to help our students develop leadership and personal management skills so they are able to be successful in a healthcare workplace."
With another school year nearing completion, Francis Tuttle seniors in the Biosciences and Medicine Academy have expressed their respective intentions to enter many different “helping professions.” Of students who have announced plans for higher education and careers, the majority plan to attend colleges and universities, varying from The U.S. Military Academy at West Point, to Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford, to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and more than a dozen schools in between.
Career interests are equally as broad, including physicians, biomedical engineers and researchers, prosthetic practitioners, veterinarians, nurses, environmental scientists, marine biologists, forensic pathologists, pharmacists, and a host of other disciplines in healthcare and medicine. The industry is in dire need of trained professionals and these students have worked to prepare for next steps in their journey.
“The curriculum encourages students to examine a variety of potential occupations, and they are offered occasions to shadow professionals,” said instructor Julie Smiley Foster, who teaches Project Lead The Way Biomedical Innovation and Honors Anatomy and Physiology, and unofficially, serves as an advisor to students to help them consider their options and prepare applications.
“Students work hard and have opportunities to find their niche. In each case, they complete rigorous coursework in math and science, focused on medicine, but applicable to many careers. We also want to help our students develop leadership and personal management skills so they are able to be successful in a healthcare workplace. Helping them prepare for further rigorous curriculum and careers will give them tools for success in university studies.”