4/17/19
This was definitely an amazing experience. On Wednesday, I drove over to St. Charles North High School, where I met up with Mrs. Pearson. That day, the school was hosting a health fair, where various companies and organizations came over to present about different causes, such as stopping distracted driving and, in our case, the importance of organ and tissue donation. After the legislation passed in 2018 allowing 16 and 17 year olds to sign up for the registry, our mission recently has been to inform the youth about their newfound, and very important, decision.
When we got to the high school, we were given breakfast, which consisted of coffee, water, various fruits, and Nutrigrain bars. After breakfast, we set up our table. We had various pamphlets (including a sign up sheet), such as wristbands, pamphlets, pens, and candy. We also had a wheel, which had multiple true and false questions for the high school students to spin and answer.
Throughout the day, people came in groups of 4-5. Once they got to our table, we gave a brief introduction to what organ and tissue donation is, addressed common misconceptions, and answered any of their questions. Though it was quite repetitive, it was an awesome experience being able to present to a lot of people who were either mislead or had no clue about what organ and tissue donation even was. We took turns eating lunch, and when it was my turn, I quickly ate a turkey wrap so that I could get back to the table. Something that I am quite proud of is that at the end of the day, we were able to get 12 students to sign up for the registry.
St. Charles North is the second high school we have visited during the course of this internship, and it was an enlightening experience presenting to my peers. A lot of them had actually experiences and stories that were very interesting to listen to. Upcoming, there are two events that I scheduled with Mrs. Pearson at Hinsdale Central coming up. First is on Tuesday, April 30th, where we’re presenting to Drivers Ed students throughout the day ,and the second is on Thursday, May 2nd, where Mrs. Pearson is hosting a table at our schools health fair.
Wide-scale image School day busses Me at the table