(JULY 17, 2024) Medical students from UVM’s Larner College of Medicine are assisting with presenting a program that introduces young people to careers in health care fields, the Rutland Herald reports.

Attendees in the week-long Governor’s Institutes of Vermont Health & Medicine Institute at Castleton learn hands-on medical and health science skills guided by professional health care mentors and faculty; they can lead their own lab work, participate in crisis simulations, and learn what it’s like to work in a wide array of health care occupations, such as general surgery, nursing, emergency services, and health care technology. The Health & Medicine Institute is the result of a collaboration between the Governor’s Institutes of Vermont and the Southern Vermont Area Health Education Center (AHEC).

Jennifer Scott, executive director of the Southern Vermont AHEC, said her group offers career education programs for the medical field in an effort to grow the labor pool.

“Each of the students belongs to a mentor group that is led by medical students from UVM’s Larner College of Medicine, and then we have physical activities and other reflection activities just to help add to the experience they have and enhance their growth and development in an area of their choosing,” Scott said.

Due to the popularity of the Health & Medicine Institute—currently, there are 140 attendees with another 50 on the waiting list—the program is now offered at two locations: Vermont State University’s Castleton and Lyndon campuses.