Middle school students interested in the medical field can learn about those professions as part of a career ladder at the medical school.

The Lebanon Health Career Ladder is a joint effort between the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific-Northwest, Linn-Benton Community College and Oregon State University.

Volunteers from each school come to COMP-Northwest to teach middle school students about health professions.

Jaime Servin, director of the program spoke about the career ladder at the Lebanon Rotary Clubs Aug. 22 meeting.

The students start their day listening to a guest speaker in the lecture hall with their parents, Servin said. After the speaker, kids split up into small groups to learn about health occupations called breakout sessions.

A cohort of sixth-grade students began the program last year.

Some of those students will return this year. The college will pick up a new cohort of middle-school students.

The program will start enrolling sixth-grade students, but any middle school student will be accepted into the first year of the program as long as there is room, Servin said.

Second-year students will do more hands-on activities, Servin said.

Volunteers from OSU and LBCC will show the kids different career paths in medicine.

Read more:
Career ladder shows youth medical careers