On a recent Saturday at Des Moines University, approximately 120 students gathered to learn about osteopathic manual medicine, anatomy, surgical scrubbing-in procedures and more – even though the students have yet to enter high school.
They were attending DMU’s Boys Reaching for Opportunities in Science, or BROS, during which 4th-7th graders explored aspects of the health sciences and medicine at 15 stations staffed by 115 university students along with faculty and staff.
Organized by the DMU Pediatrics Club, the annual event was back in person after a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“My husband and I were both very impressed with the amount of volunteers who helped make it such a success,” the mother of one BROS participant commented after the event. “Our son talked nonstop the whole way home about all the things he got to experience. He said he asked a lot of questions and was impressed with how they [the DMU students] always knew all the answers.”
The students rotated through the stations in teams identified by names of muscles in the human body.
