What do you want to be when you grow up? What college do you want to go? As we step into high school, our relatives, friends, and family members bombard us with these questions. Some of us can answer, while some of us just stare back at the other person creating an awkward silence. Minutes later, we begin to question ourselves about college, only to get more stressed and confused. There are so many decisions that need to be made regarding types of colleges, the money, whether you plan to live on-campus or commute, and the choices can be overwhelming. To prepare, high school students need to ensure they are ready by studying for the SAT or ACT, by challenging themselves in AP or Honors classes, and by becoming involved in clubs.

Thankfully, HCARE can help with all this. It was held for 10 days from July 22- August 3, Mondays through Fridays in the Ross Computer Lab. This program was held by Eric Flynn from Stony Brook University. The program taught students about careers in health science, aided them in writing resumes, trained them for the SAT and ACT, provided advice about college essays, and also involved students in skill-building. Mr. Flynn was really flexible with students’ interests and let them choose between options while giving them short breaks in between. On the first day, students were introduced to the program and were told about the 2 free trips that came with the program.

Students learned about the college application process and how it takes more than just good grades to impress colleges. They also played a game where students read resumes of students and placed them in order based on what would impress colleges. It turned out that even a person with a 4.0 GPA who didn’t do the college essay or any clubs and extracurriculars was placed at the bottom of the pile!

No matter what field you enter, especially medicine, you will need certain skills such as teamwork, communication, leadership, memorization, and listening skills. To help strengthen students’ memorization, leadership and communication skills, they played various games. Additionally, Mr. Flynn introduced them to the Cornell note-taking method, which he highly recommended. My personal favorite was when he showed us various college essay prompts and asked us to start one ourselves. Students also completed some personality quizzes to learn more about ourselves and how we learn and communicate.

Guest speakers came in from Stony Brook and taught students about their careers in the healthcare field. Some careers that the speakers pursued were Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Athletic Training, and Clinical Laboratory Science. An admissions counselor also came in from Stony Brook and gave students a lot of insight about the university in general and how the admissions process works. She went through the commuting style and eating on campus.

Instead of giving away too many juicy details about the program, this reporter highly recommends freshmen, sophomores and juniors attend this program even if you might not be interested in the healthcare field. At times, we don’t know if we are interested in something until we learn about it. Plus, HCARE provides a lot of other useful information about college that high schoolers can use. If you are interested in this program, ask your science teacher in May or ask for more information in the Guidance office.