Breanna Wells, 17, can’t remember a moment she didn’t want to become a nurse.
The rising Caledonia High School senior will continue pursuing her dream career this summer with the Mississippi State University Extension Service Rural Medical and Science Scholar program.
“I’ve known since I was little that I wanted to be a labor and delivery nurse,” Wells said. “That’s what my mom did. She used to take me with her to work when she could and I used to hang out in the NICU when she was charting and stuff so I’ve kind of always known.”
The RMS program lasts June 2-28, offering rising seniors two college credits throughout the intensive hands-on curriculum. Like-minded students from all over Mississippi will study and work together, tour the medical facility at University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson and shadow physicians, dentists and other health care professionals.
RMS Director Ann Sansing said the program started in 1998 and added a science element for this summer. With 401 total scholars who have participated, more than 70 percent of those students pursue health-related careers and 46 scholars have attended medical school.
“It’s a program for Mississippi, its citizens and the community,” Sansing said. “The program aims to ensure a strong and passionate workforce for the long-term goals of improving Mississippi’s economy and increasing access to health care.”
She added the reason science was added to the curriculum is a number of former scholars pursued careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics careers.
Adding science to the curriculum, convinced Columbus rising home-school senior Evan Sanders, 17, to apply.
“My goal as an aspiring neuroscientist is to try and understand the nature of consciousness,” Sanders said. “I’ve always wanted to know more about it and other aspects of neuroscience to help better artificial intelligence as I grow older.”
Wells, who learned about the program while in her health sciences class, applied even though the costs of the program was $2,400. With limited scholarships available, she said she applied in hopes of “figuring it out.”
“I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to afford it,” Wells said. “But I got accepted and I got a scholarship. I was ecstatic, because I knew if I got accepted and I didn’t get the scholarship I would have to turn it down. I was pretty excited.”
Sanders and Wells are two of 21 students spending their summers furthering their education. For Sanders, the opportunity to meet with professionals and kids his age was something he couldn’t pass up.
“When I looked more into it, I was really enamored by the faculty and the equipment we were going to try and test out,” Sanders said. “I also got interested in the aspect of teamwork and making connections with kids my age or even older. I think that will be a great opportunity for me to better myself as a neuroscientist whether professional or casual. I really think the teamwork aspect and the whole immersion of careers outside of mine would really just be valuable.”
Like Sanders, Wells said she is excited about being immersed in a selective class of high school seniors.
“I am most excited about the people I’m going to meet that have the same basic interests as me,” Wells said. “I am also really excited about being able to shadow physicians because that’s not opportunity that comes around a lot. That’s not something you really come across. I’ll get some hands-on experience. I am going to have to meet a lot of new people and kind of branch out of my comfort zone. I’m definitely nervous, because the program itself is competitive, but I am more excited than anything.”
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