On Wednesday, November 5th, select MHS students went on a field trip to Mayo Clinic in Eau Claire to learn about different career opportunities in the healthcare field. Only 18 students were able to come on the field trip. Students boarded 2 separate vans around 8:15 am and were on their way.
At Mayo Clinic, students had the opportunity to perform fake procedures and talk to real life healthcare workers. The learning tables at Mayo Clinic consisted of Surgical tech, Microbiology, Anesthesia, Orthopedic surgery, Pharmacy technician, and CVTC healthcare. Each healthcare worker at their table talked about how long it took them to achieve their role, what school they went to, and what a typical day looks like for them.
The CVTC healthcare table (Chippewa Valley Technical College)aught students about what classes they offer and what would benefit your future. With CVTC you are able to get your degree faster and have much more hands-on experience than at a university. “CVTC offers their college classes to our students and classes that count for college credits and count for the majority of the healthcare courses. Students are able to do some courses over the summer such as getting your CNA. Going this route speeds up your semesters and gets students towards their goals much cheaper and quicker.” Angela Ruchti. Some of the programs CVTC offers for healthcare are Nursing Assistant (CNA), Practical Nursing, Pre-nursing & Healthcare, and Lab Assistant.
Students who went on this trip had a good experience and learned about various opportunities in healthcare. Student Makenzie Kitchner said, “I like getting to experience different healthcare settings and jobs. I think it could have been better if we kept our phones during the field trip, so we could have taken pictures, but overall it gave me an idea of what jobs I would consider doing in the future.”
A teacher at Menomonie Highschool, Mrs. Allenstein, who went on the field trip stated, “I love getting to see students interact with professionals in the area they are interested in working in the future. I think my favorite part of this event was the panel that had representatives from various careers within the hospital and various requirements for education within the organization. I loved how authentic they were and wanted students to learn from their mistakes and encouraged students to go to class so they don’t get put on academic probation, as one of them did.”
Mrs Allenstein also thinks that the trip is very beneficial for students who want to be in healthcare and for people who are still figuring out what they want to do in the future. “I have had students tell me that this trip showed them what they want to do for their career because of what they saw on this trip. Which is such a huge win for a high school student!” She also wished more students could have experienced the trip and have the whole day to be at Mayo Clinic.
Overall Students and Teachers both had an amazing experience at Mayo Clinic, and MHS should be expecting more field trips at Mayo Clinic to be in the school’s future. This trip gave students an amazing opportunity to learn about things they don’t see on a typical day to day. I personally went on this field trip and can say that it helped me learn more about different parts of the medical field and made me realize what I want to do with my work life. If you have any interest at all in the medical/healthcare field, I would definitely recommend this field trip.
