On Wednesday, February 26, VicTory 4 Kidz hosted its annual Youth Healthcare Career Expo. Over 30 organizations and higher learning institutions set up booths in the community center’s gymnasium, eager to chat with students about the healthcare career options open to them. The students in attendance were from all over the Region, hailing from schools like Lowell High School, Crown Point High School, Barker Middle School, and Whiting High School. Outback Steakhouse, Mike Anderson Chevrolet of Merrillville, CareSource, Amazon Web Services (AWS), the Lake County Health Department, the American Cancer Society, Strack & Van Til, and Powerhouse were among the event’s sponsors.
Vendors included representatives from entities like HealthLinc, Valparaiso University, VOICE Indiana, 219 Health Network, Denmark College, and the City of Gary Department of Health. Some of the booths had hands-on activities available for students, such as practicing the cardiopulmonary resuscitation technique on a dummy and learning how to suture a wound by practicing on bananas. Safe Kids Northwest Indiana offered an activity that let students attempt to kick a soccer ball into a goal while wearing different pairs of “drunk goggles.” These goggles simulated the effect that certain alcohol intoxication levels have on vision, demonstrating just how impaired an intoxicated person can be.
Celeste Fonseca-Tames, a certified community health worker with the Indiana Department of Health’s Office of Minority Health, was one of the vendors at the Youth Healthcare Career Expo. She has participated in VicTory 4 Kidz events in La Porte and Elkhart Counties and is pleased to be back to participate in the expo for a second year.
“The youth are our future and it is very important that we invest in them through events like this,” Fonseca-Tames said. “We’re providing these students with information that the majority of them may not have been aware of. They might encounter healthcare professionals at hospitals, but they won’t necessarily have the opportunity to learn the full scope of what those people do. At the expo, we are giving them information about the healthcare field, which can potentially inspire them to pursue one of these career paths in the future. I love this event and I’m happy to provide the youth of our community with all the information they need.”
The students enjoyed a lunch consisting of chips, soda, water, and sub sandwiches that were generously donated by Strack & Van Til, one of the sponsors of the Youth Healthcare Career Expo. According to Shannon Hunsicker, catering manager for Strack & Van Til, the grocery store chain has been a longtime sponsor of this event. Hunsicker appreciates the opportunity to help support the students of the Region by supplying the food for the Youth Healthcare Career Expo.
“Strack & Van Til is Indiana-made and we love giving back,” Hunsicker said. “Whether it’s the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana or VicTory 4 Kidz, we want to support the community with our donations and provide our fellow community members with nutrition. This event is helping raise kids up to be productive members of society so they can eventually support Northwest Indiana. The Youth Healthcare Career Expo is an incredible event and we love being a part of it.”
This is the first year that the Youth Healthcare Career Expo has featured breakout sessions. Students were able to attend four sessions that featured industry professionals speaking on a wide variety of topics. The speakers also led exercises that helped the students list their talents and passions while helping them identify some career paths they might be interested in. At the end of each session, the students had an opportunity to ask the speakers any questions they had about working in healthcare.
In the “Medical Provider 101” session, students got to learn what it is like to work as a nurse practitioner and a physical assistant, while in the “Medical Provider 102” session, they learned about the experiences and careers of attending physicians and medical students. In the “Therapy World” session, the students learned about the various career paths open to them in the therapy field. Finally, in the “Dream Job” session, they picked up some tips on how to ace a job interview and create a top-notch LinkedIn profile.
Although Marianne Schallmo, nurse practitioner and dean of undergraduate nursing at Purdue University Northwest, has served as a vendor at previous Youth Healthcare Career Expos, this year she was one of the Medical Provider 101 session panelists. In her view, the addition of breakout sessions to this year’s expo has helped make the event even more beneficial for students.
“Students are curious about healthcare and they want to know what medical professionals do,” Schallmo said. “They are building their futures and they need to have their questions answered in order to do so. These breakout sessions are judgment free and are the best place for students to ask their questions. If I was able to inspire even one student, then I know I did something good today. This is such an uplifting event. VicTory 4 Kidz is enriching our community by preparing students for whatever their next step will be. The work this organization is doing is truly commendable.”
Dr. Regina Beard, VicTory 4 Kidz founder, presented several students with $1,000 scholarships to help support their post-high school pursuits. Each student was nominated to be awarded a scholarship by their Career and Technical Education counselors at their respective schools.
For more information on VicTory 4 Kidz’s programs and upcoming events, please visit victory4kidz.net.