Middle school students get hands-on experience exploring health careers

From operating modern medical equipment to collecting data in a lab to understanding different types of physical therapies, about 80 middle school students explored health careers during a summer camp at Grand Valley State University.

Summer Health Activities and Professions Exploration, or sHaPe Camp, was held July 15-18 and July 22-25, and sponsored by the College of Health Professions and the Regional Math and Science Center (RMSC).

The camp celebrated its 10th anniversary of helping area teenagers explore careers in physical therapy, sonography, nursing, athletic training and more. 

Camp sessions were held at Grand Valley's Cook-DeVos Center for Health Sciences and Raleigh J. Finkelstein Hall on the Health Campus, and for the first time, included 40 students from Battle Creek Public Schools (BCPS).

Earlier this year, Grand Valley received a $15.5 million grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, enabling the university to partner with BCPS to help provide middle and high school students a pathway to careers in health care and education. Under the grant, BCPS middle and high school students can attend science- and technology-focused summer camps at Grand Valley.

sHaPe camp is designed for students entering eighth or ninth grade and sessions are taught by Grand Valley faculty and staff members. 

Campers explore the professions of dosimetry, occupational and physical therapy, physician assistant studies, speech language pathology, sonography, medical lab science, therapeutic recreation, public health, nursing and athletic training.

The camp is supported by Grand Valley's Kirkhof College of Nursing and College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The first week was funded by Mercy Health and Meijer.

sHaPecamp won the 2018 Hometown Health Heroes award from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. 

For more information about sHaPe Camp, visit www.gvsu.edu/shape.