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The 14th annual Health Careers Enhancement Program for Minorities
(HCEM) at the CWRU School of Medicine has kicked off with an evening
orientation for arriving students.
"HCEM is a six-week program aimed at minority
and disadvantaged individuals who want to go to medical school,"
said Joseph Williams, director for Minority Programs.
The program aims to give minority students
the tools they need to get into medical school and an opportunity
to see firsthand the successes of minorities in the medical field,
hopefully strengthening the students' interest in medicine and
encouraging them to enter the field. Statistics from past years
are encouraging as well. Twenty five percent of the minority students
at the CWRU School of Medicine are HCEM alumni, and 60 percent
of all HCEM alumni who apply to medical school are accepted.
The students spend six weeks attending basic
science classes and preparing for the Medical College Admissions
Test (MCAT). The rigorous schedule includes lectures on general
science topics, such as physics, biology and chemistry, as well
as more specific areas in biology, such as epidemiology and virology.
All are taught by CWRU professors.
The students also learn about the medical
profession outside of the classroom. Each student spends part
of a day with a physician at the University Hospitals of Cleveland
to see what a doctor's life is like. Students learn about the
road to success as a minority in weekly "physician spotlights,"
in which minority doctors from hospitals in the Cleveland area
speak about their experiences in medical school and in the professional
world.
In addition to taking classes and shadowing
practicing physicians, HCEM students prepare for the MCAT by taking
practice exams, hearing guest lectures on standardized testing
strategies, and participating in reading circles. In reading circles,
a relatively new addition to the HCEM program, groups of 11 to
12 students read and discuss articles and books. Rather than reading
textbooks, students are given novels such as Richard Preston's
Cobra Event and Hot Zone.
"The reading circles improve their reading
speed, their vocabulary and their comprehension of the material,"
Williams said, adding that these skills are necessary for the
MCAT.
"We work them hard," Williams said. However,
the directors leave room in the students' busy schedule for some
fun. Trips to Cedar Point and a night at the Cleveland Heights
ice skating rink are planned.
The 95 students who are participating in
the program this summer come from a variety of schools and hometowns.
This year's class even includes five students from overseas, one
from Laos and four from India.
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