When a group of Baptist Technology Services (BTS) volunteers gathered at The Maxine Smith STEAM Academy career day, they found student reactions about health care technology both refreshing and surprising.
STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) schools help prepare middle- and high school students for careers in technology and science. More than 600 students filed through the gym visiting with 25 different businesses, leaving distinct impressions with our team.
“Many students were surprised that there were jobs other than doctors and nurses at a hospital,” said Pam Hill, a project manager for Baptist’s Information Technology (IT) department.
“We brought photographs of the Baptist North Mississippi project, along with a video and slides of the new Baptist North Mississippi hospital from beginning to end, from dirt field to drone photograph of the completed hospital at night (Jared Baker, an engineer for Baptist’s IT department took the photo), all of which generated interesting conversations with students,” said Pam.
“My take away of the day is that we need to do more to invest in kids by exposing them to what is available. For example, one student was interested in the engineering field of robotics, and was surprised to learn that robots can select and dispense medicine in health care,” said Jack Bolton, intermediate business systems analyst for Baptist’s IT department.
“I was never introduced to this kind of career possibility, and I wanted to do this for others. Once we started conversations with students, they opened up and wanted to talk and learn,” said Jennifer Roy, a Baptist OneCare intermediate data/reporting analyst.
“I was surprised at how excited the kids were to interact with us. The students were articulate, and many already knew what they wanted to be. Those who talked to BTS liked the souvenirs we gave them – stress balls, water bottles, and fidget spinners.” said Julian Nesbit, a Baptist OneCare data analytic senior specialist.
