Carolos Guerrero (right), an emergency health sciences student in the School of Allied Health Sciences, explains to Zapata High School and college students how to place a breathing tube into the throat.
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More than 1,300 high school and college students from San Antonio and South Texas converged on the campus of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio on Saturday, Nov. 3, to learn about careers in the health field.

Interactive, hands-on activities
The Allied Health Fair & Science Expo featured interactive, hands-on activities to give students an inside look at what it would be like to enter the fields of medicine, dentistry, nursing, research and the allied health professions.

Students played a dental hygiene version of the game “Jeopardy,” used an electrocardiogram to learn about heart rate, sewed up a simulated wound on a sponge and took wax impressions of teeth.

“This was fantastic!” said Claudia Flores from St. Augustine High School in Laredo. “We tested urine and blood samples, we made splints and we even got to learn how sutures are sown. It was amazing!” She added, “I consider it to be a great learning experience. The integration of science and hands-on activities worked together to create an exciting and educational environment.”

Irene C. Chapa, Ph.D., coordinator of the office of recruitment and science outreach at the Health Science Center, explained, “The Allied Health Fair and Science Expo is an annual event on our campus and every year we have greater numbers of students attending. The wonderful thing is that the students were not only from local high schools and universities, but that they also traveled here as part of school groups from all over South Texas.

Emergency health sciences students Adrian Mora (center) and Martin Graham (right) demonstrate with high school students how to properly carry a patient on a stretcher.

Students interested in a health care career have a wide support network
“We hope students leave the event feeling motivated to pursue their dreams of becoming health care professionals or research scientists and being armed with practical knowledge about how to make those dreams come true,” Dr. Chapa said. “Students need to understand that they do not have to travel the road toward becoming doctors, nurses, dentists or scientists alone. I want them to know that we are here to help them and that together, through partnerships with their families, schoolteachers and counselors ― and with their own personal drive, dedication and commitment to learning and hard work ― they will be successful in achieving their professional dreams.”

Allied health sciences
Students spent the morning at the Greehey Academic & Research Campus learning about the allied health disciplines of physical therapy, occupational therapy, clinical laboratory sciences, dental hygiene, dental laboratory technology, emergency health sciences, physician assistant studies, respiratory care, and deaf education and hearing science.

Annalee Longoria, a student from Laredo said, “I am really grateful to be a part of such an experience that allowed me to visit the campus I hope to soon attend.”

Afternoon features careers in medicine, dentistry, nursing and research
The afternoon session was held on the main campus of the UT Health Science Center and focused on medicine, dentistry, nursing and graduate biomedical research. Representatives of the School of Medicine, Dental School, School of Nursing and Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences led discussions, demonstrations, dissections and labs.

As a result of the expo, Alec Moore, a sophomore at Health Careers High School in San Antonio, is even more convinced that he wants to be a hand surgeon someday. “Before now, I knew what I wanted to be but didn’t know what the aspects would be. But now it’s very clear to me what, as an adult, it would be like in the medical profession.”

Health Science Center students volunteer at event
More than 250 Health Science Center faculty, students and staff volunteered at the event. Melissa Muszynski, a second-year medical student said, “I went to Churchill High School here in San Antonio and I wish that I’d had an opportunity to see what medical and health careers were all about when I was in high school.”

Tours and mentorships available at the Health Science Center
If you missed the Allied Health Fair & Science Expo, you can still learn about the health professions by taking a tour or participating in a mentorship opportunity at the UT Health Science Center. For more information access the Office of Recruitment and Science Outreach, (210) 567-3941, or send an e-mail to Dr. Chapa.