This summer, the Center of Excellence for Research, Teaching and Learning (CERTL) partnered with faculty across the academic enterprise to provide middle and high school participants with access to expert instruction and facilities that promote academic success in STEM education and college readiness during four-day summer camps.
Best SELF, part of CERTL, is a teammate benefit program that supports over 80 Atrium Health families who have dependents in grades 5-12. Thirty participants took advantage of the summer enrichment programming offered at Cabarrus College of Health Sciences, Wake Forest University School of Medicine’s Bowman Gray Center of Medical Education and Carolinas College of Health Sciences.
Best SELF’s commitment to quality programming was reflected in the personalized sessions and hands-on experiences that were carried out involving clinical faculty and community partners. Instruction on life support and CPR were offered during each camp, as well as preserved specimen dissections, inquiry investigations, site tours and scavenger hunts, simulation education and lots of technical skills training. Each site experience is as unique as the host site, leveraging their available facilities, programming and faculty.
Summer camp is just one component of the Best SELF program – throughout the school year Best SELF coordinates academic mentorship with medical students for each participant and program leaders meet with teammate parents regularly to align goals and offer academic counseling to ensure continued success or growth in targeted areas.
Check Out Highlights From the Three Camp Locations
Best SELF at Cabarrus College of Health Sciences (CCHS) was held Monday, June 10 through Thursday, June 13. Ten Best SELF students (fifth to eighth grade) rotated through a combination of faculty-led sessions in respiratory therapy, nursing, medical imaging, occupational therapy, surgical technology and microbiology as well as CERTL-led sessions supporting engineering and design, chemistry and applied mathematics. A highlight of the week was a visit by Cabarrus County EMS which was coordinated by the new community paramedic program at CCHS in support of Atrium Health’s community hospital initiative.
Campers got to manipulate life support equipment inside the ambulance and were introduced to the importance of self-care for health care workers. CCHS opened their hi-fidelity simulation lab to campers, rotated them through using the robotic surgical equipment and evaluated a medical mystery led by the medical assistant program chair which helped to reinforce the critical thinking process as it relates to social determinants of health. Students also got to partake in learning laboratory and research skills like pipetting, preparing slides, utilizing microscopes and extracting DNA.
The Best SELF summer camp experience in Winston-Salem was hosted at the Bowman Gray Center for Medical Education and took place Monday, June 24 through Thursday, June 27. Ten students attended the camp, with two acting as Best SELF interns. These high school students have aged out of the middle school camp and assisted with camp activities throughout the week. Additionally, two high school students from Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools that are interning with the Office of Educational Excellence and three college-aged interns from the School of Medicine’s Implementation Science assisted with various activities. CERTL’s lead teacher, Kim Campbell, from the Train the Trainer program, led the camp and designed an exciting week of hands-on STEM activities and problem-based learning cases that kept students busy and engaged.
This camp also included a field trip to the Brenner Fit Kitchen where students made their own healthy lunches and learned new kitchen skills. Highlights of the week included a pig dissection to learn about body systems, a scavenger hunt around Bailey Park, solving a forensics case while learning about blood typing and learning how to have a growth mindset by learning how to juggle from Sherry Moss, PhD, associate dean for MBA Programs at Wake Forest School of Business.
The Best SELF camp in Charlotte was hosted at the Carolinas College of Health Sciences from Monday, July 29 through Thursday, August 1. This camp had sessions led by faculty in histotechnology, medical imaging, nursing, neurodiagnostic technology, microbiology, anatomy and physiology, phlebotomy and medical laboratory skills. There were 10 Best SELF participants at this camp including one high school intern.
Highlights of the week included a visit by Thomas Russell, MD, a pediatric physician from Levine Children’s Hospital who led a suturing lesson on silicone training mats working with more advanced campers on chicken drumsticks. Educators from the Carolinas Simulation Center led campers to practice intubation on the task trainer, programming for an infant hi-fidelity mannequin and time with the laparoscopic surgical training equipment. Undergraduate students from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte School of Engineering challenged campers to design a prototype of a passenger car for a monorail system.
