Health Immersion Day showcases career path for school students
Earlier this month 32 senior high school students attended Charles Darwin University’s (CDU) Casuarina campus for the inaugural Health Immersion Day to experience a day in the life of a health student.
The Health Immersion Day is a new initiative designed to offer Year 11 and 12 school students wishing to explore a career in health an engaging and interactive introduction on campus.
Students went behind the scenes with CDU’s Faculty of Health to gain practical skills and explore a future career in medicine, allied health, nursing and midwifery, paramedicine, biomedicine and exercise and sports science.
As part of the day, students met with Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Dominic Upton along with study discipline heads.
Professor Upton said the day provided students with firsthand experiences and knowledge crucial for their future career decisions in the health sector.
“The aim of the experience was to provide students with further understanding of the different career opportunities available to them in the health sector and what study options we have here at CDU,” Professor Upton said.
“We wanted to provide students with a fun day where they could take a look at the practical side of health and really see what they may experience if they enter a career in the health sector.”
“I thank all the teams that were involved on the day and spoke with the students, days like this are highly valuable for students and CDU as well,” he said.
As a trial initiative, gathering feedback from participants was crucial to assess the success of the Health Immersion Day and identify areas for improvement.
Student feedback was collected through a survey to evaluate their overall experience and to gather suggestions for enhancing future events. This input will be used to refine and improve the program, ensuring it meets the needs and expectations of future participants.
Results indicated that 84 per cent of students said the session helped provide better information for them to decide what they would like to study after school and 73 per cent of students said they were likely to apply to study with CDU in the future.
“This is fabulous feedback, and it was great to see so many students with smiling faces learning more about the various health professions,” Professor Upton said.
“With this positive feedback we hope to bring back the Health Immersion Day next year.”