Saturday Science

SHP faculty, students share health professions with children

A love of learning creates a love of teaching in the School of Health Professions. So much so that every year, in addition to teaching her college students,  Radiography Director Pat Tew offers her Saturday mornings to teach area school kids all about her profession and how it helps keep people healthy.

Photos by Cheri Ghan
Tew says seeing children learn is one of her favorite things about teaching CALEB Science lessons.
(Front: Radiography Director Pat Tew explains an x-ray to CALEB Science students.)

Tew gives her “Radiography 101” lesson to members of CALEB - The Science Club, a Columbia-based extracurricular academic program that strives to create a culture of aggressive, self-motivated learning. Her emphasis is on anatomy, using radiography images as props to make her point. Tew’s showing of an x-ray image, then finding that part on a skeleton, and then letting the kids locate it on their bodies is often an illuminating experience for them.

“The best part is seeing all the ‘light bulbs’ come on for the kids and even in the parents, pre-med and med students,” Tew says. “Learning about the world inside of us is an amazing experience.”

Tew, who has helped with the CALEB classes for about 10 years, enlists her School of Health Professions students to teach half the class. Katie Bruning, BHS-Rad Sci ’11, drew on her own experiences in a large family to easily step into the role of teacher and mentor to a class of about 20 mostly middle school students. She says sharing the profession she loves was as exciting for her as for the kids learning about it.

“Children are especially fun since they have a unique view about what is going on around them,” Bruning says. “I believe the best way to learn is to start as soon as possible. Teaching kids about their health and all the people who are involved in keeping them healthy was really exciting.”

In addition to explaining how images are made, Bruning helped the kids learn how to prepare to perform an x-ray. Standing around tables stocked with sterile gear, she showed them how to sterile dress and stay clean for surgical procedures. “It was fun to teach them to put on masks, gloves, and hats,” she says. “I wanted them to know what it takes for personnel to get ready for surgery and what it feels like to have all of the gear on.”

CALEB- The Science Club was started 15 years ago by Ellis Ingram and his wife Pam as a way to expose school kids to a variety of careers. Ingram, associate professor of pathology and senior associate dean for diversity and inclusion in the MU School of Medicine, says it’s exciting to watch the student progress through the program.

“We want to expose them to what interests them, to a number of career possibilities in health and in other areas,” he says. “They also meet professors who can mentor them and help them grow.” Some CALEB students are in college now winning research awards on campus and traveling to national meetings to present their own research.

Tew, who often is joined in the CALEB teaching by SHP radiography Radiography Clinical Coordinator Carla Allen and Respiratory Therapy Program Director Shawna Strickland, says Ingram himself is the key motivator that keeps the program alive. “He is an amazing individual.  His patience, understanding, knowledge, and connections to the health care field have led many, many club members to health care careers,” she says. “He encourages club members to set goals, take responsibility and work hard to achieve their goals. He is really a mentor to all of us!”

— Cheri Ghan