For three Shorecrest seniors, the future is becoming a little clearer.
Through a class called Career Internships, which is available to juniors and seniors at the high school, Amy Roubound, Erin Cantini and Erin Jacobson not only got the opportunity to shadow several doctors in various fields, but also got the chance witness several surgeries.
“I saw things I never thought I’d get to see while I was in high school. It was incredible,” Jacobsen said.
Jacobsen, who was an intern at Stevens Hospital in Edmonds, said she watched doctors perform hernia removals, pancreatic surgeries and several others.
“I thought it would be like on TV, where everyone is really stressed, but the surgeons were very relaxed . It was good for me to see it in the real world,” Jacobson said.
Teacher and internship coordinator Linda Cobb said that this type of experience is rare for a high school students, because confidentiality and safety issues often limit the internships.
“(Since the program started in 1996), this is only the second time I’ve had students who had this kind of opportunity at an internship,” Cobb said.
Erin Cantini, whose dad is a doctor at Northwest Hospital near Northgate, helped to set up the internships for the students.
In this case, Cobb added, “it was really all in who you know.”
In addition to spending a minimum of 60 hours at the hospital and 30 hours in the classroom, the internship class also requires students to write weekly journals and learning plans.
“This allows them to explore a career, not just a job,” Cobb said. “One of the neat things about this program is when the students says ‘oops-this isn’t for me after all.’ It’s a good thing when that happens because they could be well into their junior year of college before they realized that.”
Jacobson agreed.
“Internships are an easy and cheap way to find out if that is really what you want to do,” Jacobson said.
Cobb said that she estimates 70 to 75 percent of students who finish the internship program continue to study that particular field in college. Roubound, Cantini and Jacobson said they are part of that number.
“I’ve always been into learning about medicine and treating people, and science is my passion,” Roubound said. “And it’s really has cemented my aspirations to be a doctor.”
Jacobson said the experience had a similar effect on her future plans as well.
“I’ve always wanted to be a doctor, but I needed something to back that up so I could be sure,” Jacobson said. “The internship reassured me that this is my path, and it’s confirmed that this is something I can do.”
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