Is there a doctor in the house? These budding physicians share how EXPLO has inspired them to stay curious and explore their scientific passions on the road to medical school.
Izzy: We just dissected a fetal pig. We took out its organs, got a chance to peak at its bones, and some people even took out the brain! We didn’t do that...but we took out the rib. That was my favorite part. I learned so much today. Before the dissection, I didn’t even really know what a spleen or gallbladder were, or where they were even located. But we found them and our instructor taught us all about the structure and function of the organs.
Dhanya: I learned all about where the organs are in the pig’s body and realized how similar the human anatomy is to a pig’s. I learned what connects to what part of the body, because it was all pretty loose in my mind before. I also learned a lot of things about the heart.
Izzy: What I love about this class is that we get to cover everything! From sudden trauma situations and reactions to anatomy and vital signs, I really love how it covers so many different aspects of medicine. I hope to learn a lot about the body and more about the different systems, especially the circulatory, skeletal, and nervous systems.
Dhanya: She covered a lot of it! For me, I’d love to learn a lot more specifically about the heart. It’s really interesting that we learn more than just the human body system, but also we learn how to act and respond in trauma situations and the basics of first aid.
Izzy: I want to be an orthopedic physician. Maybe a surgeon, but I'm not sure just yet.
Dhanya: I've wanted to be a cardiothoracic surgeon since I was little, but now I’m not so sure about the surgical part too. I’m thinking about cardiology because I love the heart so much. The idea of holding a real pig’s heart today is just insane to me. Learning about where everything was, like where to find the aorta and the ventricles. I didn’t know much about the anatomy of the heart at all before today. I had pictures about it in my head, but I was so wrong! Getting to see what it actually looked like really gave me a better understanding of medicine and makes me even more interested about the heart. The idea of working with such an important organ in the body and being able to help people is really what I care about. Whatever I do in life, I really want to help people and medicine is a great way to do that.
Izzy: EXPLO is so special because it lets you explore into all the subjects that you have an interest in. You can figure out if you actually do like it or if you truly want to try something else instead. They’re all really open here and you get to try almost everything, so it really helps you focus down on what you like and what you don’t like.
Dhanya: She hit the nail on the head! I chose the Medical Rounds course because it interested me the most, but I also saw that there were cooking classes, business classes, and other things I might be interested in next! They give you the option to explore different ideas and different careers so you can form your own opinions from what you learn. And I love how it’s not really “classroom learning” where they give you a bunch of information, like telling you to just memorize the body systems. I’ve done that before and didn’t like it. But now, after EXPLO, I want to revisit all of that. It’s so hands-on. In this class in particular, you get to actually be a doctor, and in that way, you’ll see if it really interests you.
Jaryd Frankel