MONT ALTO—Penn State Mont Alto recently hosted its 19th annual MedCamp, a weeklong day camp providing rising ninth and 10th graders with opportunities to learn about careers in health care and medical fields. Twenty area high schoolers from across Franklin, Adams, Cumberland and York counties were accepted into MedCamp 2024.
“We are pleased with another wonderful MedCamp week! We were able to squeeze in many activities and experiences, keeping the students moving around a lot and busy throughout,” said Helen McGarry, director of continuing education and MedCamp co-director. “All the students who attend have a genuine interest in careers in health care, so they engage quickly by asking great questions.”
Throughout the week campers were immersed in real-world health care experiences through field trips to Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Shenandoah University and Wilson College. Health care professionals from a variety of places, including Wellspan Hospital-Chambersburg, Phoenix Dental, Covenant Family Dentistry, traveled to the Mont Alto campus, offering a unique representative blend of health care fields for high schoolers to try out.
With the opportunity to explore numerous health care careers including nursing, oncology, cardiology, radiology, emergency medicine, surgery, dentistry, physical therapy, occupational therapy, pharmacology and veterinary medicine, campers received hands-on experience learning to check vital signs, apply a finger splint, suturing techniques using a banana, intubation simulation, assemble a skeleton, use a tourniquet, and identify normal and abnormal blood cells, as well as how the Life Lion air support unit works and how artificial intelligence is used in the medical field. Students also visited the human cadaver lab, spent time in diagnostic imaging and earned a “Stop the Bleed” certificate.
Reflecting on their experiences, one camper said, “MedCamp has really made me realize what my interests truly are and what I am not so interested in.” Another explained that MedCamp “has widened my options and showed me possibilities I had not yet considered.”
With health care careers in high demand, the connections and career exploration in this one-of-a-kind camp are invaluable, according to the camp organizers.
“Our goal for the camp is to allow students to picture themselves learning and working in many different types of careers and consider where their interests are the strongest,” said Renee Borromeo, professor-in-charge and teach professor in Penn State Mont Alto’s Associate Physical Therapist Assistant Program and MedCamp co-director.
“Past MedCamp attendees have gone on to successful careers such as nursing, physical and occupational therapy, and different branches of medicine, many choosing to attend Penn State Mont Alto for their education in these fields”, Borromeo said. “All remember MedCamp fondly and have expressed that their experience at camp was very helpful in making their decision to enter a health-related field.”
MedCamp will return for its 20th year in June 2025. The application window is set for February through April 2025. In addition to the online application form, students are required to submit two recommendations from their teachers and/or guidance counselor.
