Yesterday, our Springboard program visited the Carl J. Shapiro Simulation and Skills Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. We received a tour of the center's whole-body simulation facilities, which included an ICU simulation theater and a surgical simulation theater. Our students also were afforded the rare opportunity to try their own hands at surgical skill trainers. The "Bean Drop" challenge sparked some friendly competition among the students, to see who could deposit five beans in the small bucket opening in the shortest amount of time. (I have to admit that I have no idea who won!)
If you look closely at the video screen, you can see the bean about to drop in the bucket:
A big thank you to Dr. Mark Zeidel and Ms. Emily Beck for arranging this visit for us, and to our Shapiro SASC hosts Mr. David Fobert and Dr. Alex Derevianko. You had so much knowledge to share with us that we extended our stay beyond the original ending time, and we wish we could have stayed longer!
Gateway Summer Springboard Trip to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Gateway Summer Springboard Trip to NU Earthquake Engineering Lab
This afternoon, our Springboard program visited Professor Mishac Yegian's earthquake engineering lab at Northeastern University, hosted by Prof. Yegian's graduate student Seda Gokyer.
Ms. Gokyer warmed up our group with an engaging introduction to civil engineering, topped off by an "apple on a stick" demonstration of natural frequency and resonance. The Gateway students then divided into four teams for a building competition on the lab's earthquake-simulating shake table.
All of the teams demonstrated excellent focus and teamwork during the design and construction phase.
When the team designs were tested with increasingly jarring earthquake simulations on the shake table, we found our winner:
For their excellent efforts and good sportsmanship, all teams were rewarded with their own earthquake rides on the shake table:
Gateway Summer Springboard Trip to Harvard Medical School
As we head into our second year of Gateway at the O'Bryant School, we have introduced a two-week Summer Springboard institute to smooth the academic transition into our ninth-grade program. Emmanuel College has generously opened up its campus to our students for this experience. This central LMA location provides us with the opportunity to combine our morning academic classes in English and math with career and college explorations in the afternoons.
This afternoon, the twenty Springboard participants plus staff visited the campus of Harvard Medical School, just down the street from Emmanuel College. We began with a guided tour of the Warren Anatomical Museum, inside Harvard Medical School's Countway Library of Medicine. (This is the second time in the past two months that the Warren Museum has hosted groups of Gateway students, and we are most grateful for this unique opportunity to look back through the history of medicine!) Dr. Sheila Nutt of HMS' Office for Diversity and Community Partnership then provided our new Gateway students with a brief introduction to the many high school enrichment opportunities offered through their office. As we did last year, we will continue to keep Gateway students posted about all of the HMS enrichment opportunities available throughout the school year.
We then concluded our visit with a hands-on experience in HMS' Gilbert Medical Simulation laboratory. The photos below follow Team Hines' efforts to stabilize a patient experiencing an asthma attack. (I regret to report that in the other room, Team Figueroa lost its patient who was suffering from a heart attack.)
A big thank you to Dr. Sheila Nutt for arranging this amazing early Gateway experience for our new students!
At first, students were a bit nervous about touching the simulation dummy...
...but that didn't last very long, after we saw all of the medical equipment that we were allowed to try out on the dummy.
We had to figure out how to work as a team, in a "crisis" situation...
...and it certainly helped to have an expert talking dummy to give us key advice along the way ("I want to talk to my primary care physician!").
