Eight dedicated Campbell University physician assistant (PA) students spent a portion of their Thanksgiving break educating local high school students about the field of physician assistants.
Wallace Student Society members Ashley Green, Laura Dail, Danielle Beneville, Jessica Robbins, Samantha Bullard, Jamie Harding, Jamie Hia, and Christine Benedict volunteered their time to visit high school students at Triton High School, Harnett Central High School, and Smithfield-Selma High School.
The first-year PA students shared about the history of the PA profession and how a high school student can prepare for a career as a PA.
Ashley Green, president of the Wallace Student Society, explains how she came up with the idea for the community outreach experience, “I personally had no idea what a PA was when I was in high school. I was disappointed to find out that most of my classmates shared the same story.
The PA students prepared a presentation with the “who, what, where, when and why's” of being a PA and gave personal testimonies about how each of them decided to enter the PA program at Campbell University. They also incorporated a hands-on portion into their visit by teaching the high school students how to take vital signs, test deep tendon reflexes and other parts of a physical exam.
The Wallace Student Society, a community service and fundraising organization within the PA Program, hopes to revisit these high schools as well as other schools in the area to encourage students to learn more about careers as a PA and the PA Program at Campbell.