How do you harness the enthusiasm of an energetic middle-school girl and direct it toward science?
Let her cradle a human heart in her hands.
How do you open a grade-school girl’s eyes to a career in health care?
Let her run an ultrasound probe along the arm of a medical student.
How do you make the connection between the marvel of science and her everyday life?
Let her peer through a microscope to crack a case of strep throat.
Des Moines University Girls in Science Day is an opportunity for girls from Des Moines Public Schools to experience interactive activities that showcase how science skills are important in health care careers. The event is hosted by the DMU Women’s Medical Alliance with support from Community Relations and dozens of campus volunteers.
DMU students and faculty staffed 15 different stations highlighting various facets of health science, from an anatomy station that allowed girls to handle bones to dermatology stations where girls made skin care products to a medical simulation station where girls helped rescue a robot from heart failure.
Still other stations provided practical, hands-on opportunities like building a first aid kit, learning how to help a friend with asthma and taping a foot to prevent athletic injury.
The boundless energy that comes from bringing hundreds of young girls to campus also rubs off on volunteers who are completing a year of rigorous training.
