Since she was selected to participate in the National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine, Centreville High junior Stephanie Temple got to glimpse the world of medicine firsthand.
The daughter of Miriam and Lenard Temple of Confederate Ridge, Stephanie, 16, attended the forum, July 21-30, at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. She was one of 350 high schoolers who were chosen nationwide.
"My chemistry teacher nominated me for it, based on my grades and interest in medicine," she said. "I want to be a pediatrician because of my interest in children, and I want to help the community."
At the forum, Temple attended medical-sciences sessions and participated in problem-based learning. "They gave us a case and more specific information, as it went on, and we had to come up with what we thought the patient had," she explained. "So we were diagnosing."
The students learned to suture, and doctors and medical students told them their perspective on medicine. They also had panel discussions with them on bioterrorism. Said Temple: "We posed questions about potential threats in the future and what they're doing to prevent bioterrorist attacks."
Organ transplants were also discussed, and a woman who'd donated an organ to a friend told the students why she did it and how she felt about her decision. They also visited medical schools, and Temple's group of about 22 students went to the Uniformed Services University in Maryland.
"We saw a brain, got an anatomy lesson on it and got to touch it," she said. They also visited St. Joseph's Medical Center in Towson, Md. "They showed us around, and you picked where you wanted to go," said Temple. Some students went to surgery, radiology or physical therapy; Stephanie chose the last two areas.
"It was pretty neat in physical therapy to see the doctors' interactions with the patients and how attentive they were," she said. "Most of the patients were elderly, and seeing the doctors trying to help them after surgery was pretty cool." Temple said it was also interesting to see how much pain they were in: "To see it firsthand was pretty eye-opening."
For fun, the students had socials every night with food and games. They donned Sumo-wrestling suits, played casino games and even had a formal dance at the Marriott Metro Center Hotel. "Making friends and meeting new people was my favorite part of the whole experience," said Temple.
Medically, though, she especially liked the site visits because she got to see doctors working on the job. "It pretty much clinched it that I want to be a doctor," she said. "It was a really good opportunity."