Campbell University’s Student National Medical Association (SNMA) chapter hosted 99 North Carolina high school students for their annual Helping students Understand the Medical Profession (HUMP) Day on Feb. 26.
SNMA leadership has worked with Tonya Burney, director of health careers and workforce diversity with Regional Health Education Services at the Southern Regional Health Education Center (SRHEC) in Fayetteville since 2014 to recruit students to participate in the program, and this year’s event was the largest to date.
The program began with only students from Cumberland County and has grown to include students from six counties across the region. Students participating represented the following county high school systems: all of the Harnett County High Schools, six Cumberland County High Schools including the Fayetteville State GEAR UP and Early Collegeprograms, Cumberland International and Cumberland Polytechnic, Scotland County including two middle school students from their HOSA program, Robeson County, Hoke County and New Hanover County.
“We are stretched out,” Burney was excited to share. “I advertise it for the whole state through all of the AHECs, and they support students participating by assisting with transportation just as the SRHEC will for their programs — we swap off that way — that’s how we have students here from across the state.”
The registration response was so large, the number had to be capped at just over 100; only a few registrants were not able to attend either due to illness or transportation difficulties.
“Transportation is something we continue to work on. Students are very eager to participate — many of these students began traveling at 4:00 AM today to be here — and we don’t want transportation to keep them from participating. When we talked about the COVID-19 vaccination requirement, they wanted to make sure they got it and had their documentation. I’m so proud of them.”
Burney believes the program has been a growing success because of the initial welcome participants received, the faculty who supported the student founder of HUMP Day, Dr. Brooke Williams, and the continued connections fostered by the Medicine and Health Sciences administration as well as the dedicated mentorship provided by the student hosts.
“The first HUMP Day we did in 2014, Dr. William F. Morris was so welcoming to us,” she said. “He gave the first OMM session, and it moved my students. Several from that first cohort have graduated from the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. Dr. Moore in CPHS also keeps in contact and worked with us to host a Future Leaders Conference here in 2017, and we want to come back.”
“The kids really enjoy it, and it puts them into the mindset that they can have a career in health care. The information and mentorship they will receive today from the medical students, it jump-starts them, and I guarantee you 50% to 75% of these students will one day send applications to a medical school or health science program.”
SNMA vice-president Meghan Nunnally (MS-II) believes the program benefits the high school students and their medical school mentors equally.
“H.U.M.P Day is such a wonderful opportunity not only for high school students to learn about medicine, but for us, as medical students, to be able to teach others about the field we love. It was such a privilege to help orchestrate the return of this annual event and to see the Class of 2024 and 2025 join together to ensure it was a success.”
Another value Burney sees working with Campbell is the collaboration and student exposure to medicine and all of the health sciences.
“I’m steadily pushing Campbell because you have every aspect of the careers in the health sciences I can think of; for example, I have a couple football players here today, and I told them to ask about sports medicine. We want to use this opportunity to introduce them to a facet of medicine that matches with their interests. We have some who love little babies, and we use this experience to show them they aren’t limited to being a daycare worker – they can become a pediatrician!”
“Campbell hosts an excellent program, and these students go back and talk about how much fun they had and put it on their social media posts. This afternoon when they get on the buses, they will talk the entire way home about what they did and how each one of them did it differently. It’s just a wonderful program, and I’m hoping together we keep it going.”
Students who could not participate this year can register for HUMP Day again next year and participate in other Health Education Center programs. SRHEC programs for high school students include the Teach program and the new Outreach program. Information and registration can be found at www.southernregionalahec.org or any Regional Health Education Center website under Student Services, Health Careers Program, or contact Burney directly.