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In 2005 the NSH President asked the NSH Convention Committee to develop a career day to be presented at the Annual Symposium/Convention for local students. The committe sought out NSH member, Linda Jenkins, to work with the committee on this project - as a result NSH launched an extremely successful Career Day at the 2006 S/C in Phoenix. This is now an annual event that hosts over 100 students a year. In an effort to expand the success of the program Linda Jenkins and the Convention Committee have put together this resource guide for others to use when developing a career day for their meetings.
NSH uses the theme "What in the World is Histotechnology?" for our Career Day events and so the following guidelines, brochures etc are based on this theme. However please remember that these are only suggestions - creativity on your part is welcome and appreciated by teenagers. This format is designed to instruct a total of 100 -120 students. If you have any questions about the information or you would like copies of the graphics, PPTS or videos used in the career day please feel free to contact the NSH Meeting Manager, Aubrey Wanner.
First: VOLUNTEERS
Appoint a coordinator. This individual will be responsible for appointing an equipment coordinator, contacting the HOSA (Health Ocupations Students of America) director, obtaining volunteers for the Career Day, etc. To have 2 sessions of 3 hours each you need the following volunteers per session:
- Check-in - 2
- welcome and CD - 1
- at each microtome - 1 x 5
- for staining - 1
- for coverslipper - 1
- microscopes/printing - 2
- embedding - 2
- grossing - 1
- lifestyles section - 1
- biomaterial implants(Optional)- 1
- Q & A - 1
- Expo Guides - 5 or 6
- At – Large - 2 TOTAL: 25 -27
The Equipment coordinator is responsible for contacting vendors and local labs for consumables and equipment.
Second: STUDENTS
You must make contact with the area schools and science teachers. An excellent contact is with your state HOSA Director (see www.hosa.org to find your representative). HOSA is a national student organization endorsed by the U.S. Department of Education and the Health Science Technology Education Division of ACTE. HOSA's two-fold mission is to promote career opportunities in the health care industry and to enhance the delivery of quality health care to all people. HOSA's goal is to encourage all health occupations instructors and students to join and be actively involved in the HSTE-HOSA Partnership. The HOSA director knows where all the student chapters are located and will help you make contact. In addition you can send out brochures to area schools. Mail them out at least 3 months in advance. If your meeting is in the early Fall, you should send out brochures in the Spring before school is out. You can search online for a list of schools in your area.
Third: TIMING
The best formula for success is to hold the event while school is in session. Some areas may allow weekend field trips, but it is best to plan for a weekday session. Remember your vendors. You cannot do this without them and their schedule is crucial to the success of your event. For example the NSH Career Day is held on Monday and Tuesday mornings. The NSH Exhibit Hall traditionally opens on Sunday and closes at noon on Tuesday. Vendor equipment starts arriving on Friday. All hands-on workshops are done on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Since the vendors supply all of the Career Day equipment we have to be considerate of their exhibit booths and other workshops requiring use of their equipment. You too should consider your full schedule when adding this event.
Fourth: LOCATION
You need a large area to have a hands - on Career Day. Three separate but connected areas are ideal. The NSH Career Day typically uses 2,000 - 2,500 square feet.
Fifth: SET UP
Once you have your space you need to divide it into three areas. The first area is set-up theater style with a TV/DVD/Laptop. Everyone begins and ends in this room. The second & third areas are our labs. Area 2 gets 5 microtomes and 5 waterbaths set up against a wall. Following that is the staining area, coverslipper, and microscopes with cameras. In the 3rd area is the embedding units, grossing area, lifestyle section which comprises 3 microscopes containing 3 sets of slides, and the optional biomaterials area. We recommend all stations be set-up the day before the event - its a time consuming process and almost impossible to set up & train in the same day. We also recommend you spend 1 – 2 hours training your volunteers so that they are familiar with each station & the specific equipment you are using.
SCHEDULING
Every group starts in the theatre classroom where they are given a 20 minute intro (this is usually done by the Career Day Coordinator); this includes a CD/Powerpoint presentation commemorating Lee Luna’s rise from a dishwasher to one of the founding fathers of NSH. The students are assigned a group number and a guide volunteer. It is the guide’s responsibility to make sure that the group stays on time. If you look at the schedule, you will see that most stations have a 20 minute time period.
Scheduling Time Savers to Consider:
*When laying out your schedule for the day allow adequate time for travel and loading of busses. If possible you should reimburse the schools for parking - this is a frequent request NSH receives from schools we work with.
*If you are providing each student with a give away bag it helps to have them stuffed in advance and placed on the chairs in the classroom section. NSH includes career brochures, donated give aways and information about histology schools in our bags.
*If you can get a list of the attendees prior to the event, you can have prepared name badges with group numbers ready for their arrival. It is also helpful to place an adhesive name badge on the bag and ask that the students write their name on the bag as this save lots of, “I lost my bag” comments.
WET LAB SET UP
The NSH Career Day involves the following stations:
1. Microtomy
2. Staining, Coverslipping & Microscopy
3. Grossing/Embedding
4. Space Station (Lifestyles)
5. Questions/Answers
Description of Each Lab Station
VENDOR HALL
The one part of career day that is longer than twenty minutes is the kids trip to the Exhibit Hall - we schedule 40 minutes. The NSH Exhibit Hall is quite large & takes some time to get through - if your hall is smaller you might not need the 40 minutes. We have found that the students love this part however, we make sure that the students understand that they cannot accept a gift from a vendor without asking a technical question. We don't want the experience to be a mad dash for free things. To formalize the experience we have created a scavenger hunt for each student to complete. The career day coordinator goes to the exhibitors prior to the event and comes up with some questions to challenge the students. If the student turns in a completed form, they are eligible for a prize. Each group places their completed scavenger hunt form (name included) in a bowl and a lucky name is withdrawn. Since you usually have 6 groups per session, you will need to collect 12(based on 2 sessions) prizes from the vendors. It is also important to make sure that the guide has a map of the exhibit hall and needs to know which vendors to visit in order for the students to complete their forms. The guide should start the Expo tour with a visit to the restrooms. All students should be kept together and not allowed to wander off on their own. Contact vendors before hand and ask them to please not give students scalpels, microtome blades, etc. Thank them for their help with this event.