Acreage Pines Elementary School is wrapping up its ground-breaking year with Medical Career Day on Friday, May 9. Local partners from the medical community — Miami Children’s Hospital, Ibis Animal Hospital, Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue and Good Samaritan Medical Center — will speak with students on the many job options that await them if they complete the track through middle school, high school and post-secondary schooling.
The Biomedical and Veterinary Technology Academy at Acreage Pines is the first of its kind in Palm Beach County and the State of Florida to target elementary students with a high interest in medical and veterinary sciences.
The program provides students in kindergarten through fifth grades with a medical- and veterinary-themed curriculum that is integrated into the current state standards. The curriculum teaches job-specific medical skills and increases student awareness of health-related professions. Specific focuses include: foundations of health and wellness, basic anatomy and physiology, medical terminology, prevention of disease, medical illustration, animal therapy and robotic applications in healthcare.
Good Samaritan Medical Center teamed up with Acreage Pines to help launch the school’s program by equipping the school’s medical lab with equipment and supplies. The hospital also provided student field trips, guest speakers, training materials and student curriculum, “the OrganWise Guys.”
“We’re happy to assist in creating an environment for young children to learn about the medical field,” said Mark Nosacka, chief executive officer of Good Samaritan Medical Center. “This program will increase students’ drive to succeed, while at the same time prepare them for entry into middle school medical science programs.”
Principal Amy Dujon is ecstatic about what lies ahead of the program.
“We have a remarkable opportunity to ignite a passion within students for the medical sciences and set them on a path of success and college and career readiness,” she said. “My goal is to continue to build a model program for other schools to emulate.”
For more info., contact Dujon at amy.dujon@palmbeachschools.org or call (561) 904-9500.
ABOVE: A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held for the school’s medical lab.
