New this year, the Mayo Medical Club is promoting opportunities and fun experiences in medicine, which any student can be a part of. The club’s goal is to inform members of current events in the medical field and ensure that they are aware of opportunities that will set them up for success in college and beyond.
Although Mayo High School offered a chapter of Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA), it was held at RCTC, with a focus on those students; few people at Mayo High School were able to attend. As a result, Snehan Majumder, a co-founder of the club, could easily see that, “Mayo High School didn’t have opportunities for students interested in medicine, me being one of them.” He worked with Mrs. Stegenga to form a club because he wanted all Spartans to share “opportunities to use the wonderful medical resources we have in a town like Rochester, with the Mayo Clinic.”
Most Thursdays, the club meets in Mrs. Stegenga’s room, and those meetings are open for anyone to pop in and try the club out for themselves. Each meeting has a subject that can cover a range of topics across the medical spectrum including methods for stopping bleeding and specific details about pills and medications. Short slideshows reveal interesting facts about the subject before the members head into experiments or listen to guest speakers.
You may think learning about medicine is boring; however, medicine is all about real-world scenarios and labs, which can lead to lots of fun possibilities. One of the recent labs involved the importance of how medications are released into the body. The casing on the outside of a pill has to break down, so the medication can be released at the perfect time in the body. Understanding this concept led to a fun experiment and competition between groups to figure out which variables affect the casing, which things would make the medication be released from the tablet at the perfect time. This, of course, led to bragging rights and prizes for one astute group. Oliver Paulsen, a member of the club commented that, “The experiments are always a lot of fun.” With challenging competitions like these, he is “always excited to… learn more about medicine while working on interesting labs with my friends.”
According to Mayo Clinic’s website, the Mayo Simulation Lab offers “virtual reality training…
Make sure to keep an eye out for the Medical Club’s socials as there are always fun events going on. Recently, guest speakers from the Mayo Simulation Lab came in to interact with the club, sharing information on how to save lives through hands-on opportunities with CPR, tourniquets, and defibrillators. They even hosted tournaments to see who could tie tourniquets the fastest to save lives and win prizes!
The Mayo Medical Club is always announcing opportunities for students to discover new experiences all the time. One focus is on acquiring a mentorship, which allows students to work at a real medical facility or business during one of their class periods. In fact, students earn credit while gaining valuable experience in the field. Students are able to choose their mentors, and having the Mayo Clinic nearby could lead to some great medical opportunities.
This great, new club is worth checking out, especially with friends. Not only does it broaden members’ experiences, but it makes them more competitive for college by just showing up, eating snacks, and having fun while learning. Medicine is a diverse and broad field of study that will always need jobs. Many occupations that may not seem to be related to the medical field actually play quite a vital role in providing healthcare for the community. Some of these include careers in engineering and IT. New medical equipment will always need new software to run them. Aden Diwan, co-founder, wanted to express that, “Cultivating an interest in medicine can take you to a whole new perspective in life.” The diversity and volume of employment opportunities tied to healthcare are vast and waiting for you to explore, “so look out for the Medical Club on Instagram and Google Classroom for our next meeting. We would be happy to have you.”
Club activity photos by Amelia Calderon and Aubrey Neff
