NEW ORLEANS – The Ochsner STAR Summer Scholars Program is a free, four-week summer enrichment program for Louisiana high school seniors that introduces students to careers in healthcare, medicine and biomedical research through hands-on learning, mentorship, clinical exposure and leadership development.
Now in its 20th year, the program, known as STAR for Science, Technology, Academics and Research, is designed to expand access to STEM opportunities and help build Louisiana’s future healthcare workforce.
“We are all in a celebratory mood here at Ochsner,” said Carlos Calix, Assistant Vice President of Community Affairs. Calix manages the program, and this year 20 students from 13 different high schools will complete the four-week program on June 26.
During the four-week program, students engage with the Ochsner Simulation Lab, interact with more than 70 healthcare professionals, receive mentoring from Ochsner medical students, participate in job shadowing, complete community service projects, learn financial literacy skills and are introduced to the fundamentals of scientific research. It is a full-time commitment, running from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., five days a week for four weeks.
“The students spend a lot of time not just with doctors and nurses but also focusing on specialty areas of those professions,” said Calix. “They also spend time learning about the other professions needed to run a healthcare system, including allied health professions such as physical therapists, respiratory therapists and speech-language pathologists.”
Calix explained that these other professions may not be as visible to students as the traditional role of doctor or nurse, so they spend time in those pathways learning what it takes to work in those professions.
“We supplement the didactic with hands-on experiences that highlight things like physical therapy, injury prevention and injury recovery,” said Calix. “We also spend time in our simulation lab supplementing all of the didactic portion with experiential learning.”
Ochsner STAR Program – Addressing Future Workforce Needs
Federal health workforce projections indicate the United States is expected to face significant shortages of healthcare professionals in the coming years, including a projected shortage of more than 141,000 physicians by 2038 and approximately 63,700 registered nurses by 2030.
“We could sit idly by and hope that the shortage rectifies itself, or we can reach down into the K-12 space where students can get inspiration on what to do next and provide a true hands-on work experience,” said Calix.
He said approximately 80 percent of these students go on to achieve a degree in science.
“From there, approximately the same percentage are now in jobs that reflect healthcare, including pharmacists, researchers, doctors, nurses and physical therapists,” said Calix. “We’re not saying we are the sole reason that occurs, but the intentionality of working with high school students is important to us.”
It takes time for the students to work their way through four years of undergraduate college, four years of medical school and even graduate school. Right now, there are more than 40 STAR students in medical school.
“We are now seeing our 2015 class employed as physicians at Ochsner,” said Calix. “It takes that long to realize the fruits of some of this early work with high school students. We know we are investing in the right space and that it just takes time for them to come back to us.”
Ochsner STAR Program – Casting a Wide Net
The Ochsner Education Outreach team manages the Ochsner STAR Summer Scholars Program.
“We do our best to provide access to as many schools as possible to this program,” said Calix. “We limit the number of students per school to two which is tough because we had over 300 applicants this year.”
To whittle the number of applications down to twenty, the team starts the process in January to get the June cohort.
“We’ve got students from public, private, charter, Catholic, independent and nonsectarian schools,” said Calix. “I’m blessed to have a team of educators who run this program. They are all former teachers and have all spent time in the classroom. They understand student progression and student potential.”
Applicants for the program submit essays and forty students are selected for interview.
“These are wonderful students putting forward their best, so we think it’s our responsibility to put a lot of energy into the review process,” said Calix. “We want to give everyone the best chance. We want to read every essay. We want to talk to as many as we possibly can. So it’s a long process but we are happy to do it.”
Calix grew up in Metairie, attended Jesuit High School and Loyola University New Orleans. He said helping students discover healthcare careers and ultimately return to serve Louisiana communities has made the work especially meaningful.
“I’ve been at Ochsner for 8 years now and this is the best job I think I’ve ever had,” said Calix.
