Kingsten Thomas
Kingsten Thomas, a fifth-grade student at Bradley Elementary School, wants to be a nurse one day. Through the school’s Mini-Nurse Academy, he’s getting a head start on his career goal by learning about health and health care professions.
This year is the Mini-Nurse Academy’s third year at Bradley. The program is run in partnership with the Midlands of South Carolina Black Nurses Association. Fifteen fourth-grade and fifth-grade students are part of the program, which operates during the spring semester.
Dr. Jessica Tillman, the chapter ambassador for the Mini-Nurse Academy, said the program educates students about health and their bodies.
“Health literacy is low. There are a lot of things about people’s own health that they’re not really aware of. They know some things, but there’s some information they don’t quite get,” Tillman said.
Interactive activities help keep the students engaged. Some of the activities include learning hands-only CPR, fixing a healthy snack with a nutritionist from the South Carolina Department of Public Health, and touring a Richland County EMS ambulance.
Kingsten said touring the ambulance was one of his most memorable experiences in the program.
“I think that was my favorite experience because we got to use the siren and we also got to use some of the equipment that’s inside the ambulance,” he said.
Dr. Tillman is a class of 1999 graduate of A.C. Flora High School who attended Bradley when she was in elementary school. She says programs like the Mini-Nurse Academy help expose students to different opportunities they can have after graduating high school.
“We didn’t have any afterschool programs like this when I was at Bradley. It’s great to see the students interested and engaged,” said Dr. Tillman.
Dr. Tillman says she enjoys when the students ask questions and bring up their own personal experiences.
“They say things like ‘My grandmother has diabetes’ or ‘My aunt has high blood pressure.’ The students learn about things, but they can also show us what they already know,” she said. “Whatever they learn, they can go back home and tell their families about it. Maybe the students can encourage their families to do something to take better care of their health.”
Dr. Tillman says she knows many fourth and fifth-grade students don’t know exactly what they want to do when they grow up yet, but she hopes the Mini-Nurse Academy helps solidify their interest in health care and that it helps them consider pursuing other health care programs in Richland One.
Kingsten says he encourages other students to join the Mini-Nurse Academy if they have an interest in health care like he does.
“If nursing or any type of health care is what they want to do when they grow up, I would say join because it’s good experience,” he said.
Loading Comments