This article by Keith Lawrence, illustrated with photograph by Greg Eans, was published in the
Aug. 21, 2016, issue of the Messenger-Inquirer.
Academy launches health careers
By Keith Lawrence Messenger-Inquirer
Photo by Greg Eans, Messenger-Inquirer.com/[email protected]
Ben Gily, 14, from left, Brianna Zoglmann, 14, and Jay Powers, 15, look over a faux crime scene set up in a
stairway at the Owensboro Community & Technical College Science Building on Tuesday as part of an exercise
with the Life Science Academy.
Anna Garcia is dead.
The crime scene tape is up.
There's a chalk outline of her body on the floor.
But how did she die?
That's what high school freshman students at the Community Campus' Life Science Academy have to
determine in that simulated exercise.
It's the focus of Principles of Biomedical Science, the academy's freshman course.
Natalie Jones Mountjoy, director of the Life Science Academy, says hands-on problem solving in
small groups is the best way for people to learn.
As sophomores, students at the academy -- based on the second floor of the Science Building at
Owensboro Community & Technical College -- study Human Body Systems.
Juniors study Medical Intervention, which focuses on prevention, diagnoses and treatment of
diseases and disorders.
And seniors take Biomedical Innovation, studying such things as clinical medicine, physiology,
biomedical engineering and public health.
Remember, these are high school students.
Marcia Carpenter, who retired last year as director of Community Campus, says the program started
six years ago with five high schools -- Apollo, Daviess County, Hancock County, Owensboro and
Owensboro Catholic.
It was created by the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp., area superintendents and
local college presidents, she said.
The idea, Carpenter said, was to "interest students in high demand careers. The Life Science
Academy is the shining star. It's now fully grown."
Best in U.S.
She said, "I'm convinced that this is the best program of its kind in the United States. We recruit
students when they're in the eighth grade."
Students spend 90 minutes on the college campus each day and then go back to their schools.
"Some parents in Hancock County drive their students to class and then the county sends a bus to
take them home," Carpenter said.
Some home-schooled students also attend the academy, she said.
Mountjoy said students can earn four college credit hours each year for a total of 16 credit hours that
transfer as general electives to any college in the state.
The academy graduated its first class last spring.
"We hope they come back after college," Mountjoy said. "There's a health care work force gap here.
We want the students to be involved in the community so they'll want to come back."
This year, the academy enrolled 109 students, its largest enrollment to date.
"If every class was full, we could handle 160 students," Mountjoy said.
She said, "Our graduates are now studying to be biomedical engineers, neurologists, neo-natologists,
psychologists, general practitioners, veterinarians, oncologists, physical therapists and occupational
therapists."
The academy, Mountjoy said, exposes students to research projects.
Dirtiest place in restroom
Last year, she said, students did such things as studying the effects of concussions on GPAs (grade
point averages), finding the dirtiest places in restrooms (the paper tower dispenser) and detecting
bacteria levels in waiting rooms.
Mountjoy said previous classes have done projects in the Czech Republic and Appalachia.
She said, "We've visited the University of Kentucky, the University of Louisville, Western Kentucky
University, the Centers of Disease Control & Prevention and the Atlanta Aquarium."
Mountjoy said, "These students are extremely talented. We want them to do community benefit
projects, so they'll be a bigger part of the community."
Those projects have included getting Christmas gifts for children at the Daniel Pitino Shelter.
The students also mentor fourth-graders at Estes Elementary School, teaching them about such
things as building websites and studying bacteria.
Mountjoy said, "Owensboro Health is our largest funder and they give us three faculty members on
loan. OCTC gives us lab space. We also get grants from the Women's Guild of Owensboro and the
Dart foundation."
Faculty members from OH are Chad Wilkerson, a research scientist at the Owensboro Cancer
Research Program; Martha Sims, Heart Center Education Coordinator; and Jeanie Burden, nurse
educator.
Mountjoy said the academy has applied for a grant that would give students their own lab space.
"Now, we share with OCTC," Mountjoy said.
Carpenter said Mountjoy is a certified a master teacher in biomedical studies.
"We're so lucky to have her," she said.
Keith Lawrence, 270-691-7301, [email protected]