“I’ve always imagined myself in a white coat helping people,” says Alvin Bonner, Jr., a newly minted senior at the University of Chicago Charter School Woodlawn Campus (UCW) who dreams of becoming a psychiatrist and helping people overcome trauma. Over the summer, Bonner took a step towards making his goals a reality by attending Camp Med at Albion College for four days. The camp is a medical preparatory program designed for high school students to gain insights about paths toward a medical career.
The camp was focused on the workings of the heart. Bonner learned about the symptoms of heart disease, how to identify the different areas of the heart, how to use an EKG, and the ways in which a heart attack can present differently in women than men. Read more about Bonner’s Camp Med experience in his Chicago Unheard feature.