New CSU Anatomy Camp gives high-schoolers a unique look at the human body July 22, 2016 | By Rhea Maze
New CSU Anatomy Camp gives high-schoolers a unique look at the human body
July 22, 2016 | By Rhea Maze
FORT COLLINS – High-schoolers in bright green scrubs huddle to discuss a medical stumper: What caused a 46-year-old man’s liver failure?
To answer the question, the students draw upon knowledge
and hands-on experience – including examination of a human
cadaver and organs – that they’ve gained during a week at
Colorado State University’s first Anatomy Camp. The students
have traveled from across Colorado and the nation for a
weeklong immersion in human gross anatomy instruction that
will help direct their college studies and, for some, could be a
first step toward careers in health and medicine.
“Trying to solve these case studies was intimidating at first,” said
Sara Brodsky, a junior from Winter Park, Fla. “I’m not used to having
to ask so many questions to get to the answer. It’s been different
and challenging, but it’s getting easier as the week goes on.”
Through that critical-thinking process, visiting students determined
the 46-year-old man had Cirrhosis of the liver, a progressive
disease in which healthy tissue is replaced with scar tissue.
It was one of many cases students considered during the first
session of CSU Anatomy Camp July 10-16; the second camp
session is set July 24-30. By month’s end, about 50 students from
eight states will have attended the fully booked camp sessions.
A SIGN OF THINGS TO COMEFaculty and graduate students in the Department of Biomedical
Sciences are leading the camp in a project that could grow
significantly in years to come, as the department undertakes
plans to construct a state-of-the-art Health Education Outreach
Center. The center, in early planning stages, would comprise a
new wing of the CSU Anatomy-Zoology Building with laboratories
dedicated to student training in human gross anatomy and
neuroanatomy. Groundbreaking is not yet set.
CSU human anatomy programs for decades have attracted
aspiring doctors and health professionals, in part because the
university gives undergraduate students the rare chance to
closely study and work with human cadavers, an opportunity
that provides an incomparable look at the human body in its
healthy and diseased states. The planned CSU Health Education
Outreach Center would offer such learning not only to more
High-school sophomore
Kyle Kirby practices suturing
techniques.
undergraduate students, but to high-schoolers and to medical
students through collaboration with the University of Colorado
School of Medicine; it would be linked to life-sciences outreach
and education at the National Western Center in Denver.
“The Health Education Outreach Center will have brand-
new facilities for the study of human anatomy and human
neuroanatomy,” said Tod Clapp, an assistant professor in the
Department of Biomedical Sciences and head of its human
anatomy program. “These facilities will rival the best medical
schools in the U.S. and will allow us to serve more students.”
The first-ever session of CSU Anatomy Camp offered a preview
of what’s to come, while also providing high-schoolers with
exceptional anatomy instruction, excursions into the Rocky
Mountains and a taste of campus life. In addition to attending
college-level lectures and labs, visiting students stayed in CSU
residence halls, hiked to well-known Horsetooth Rock, went
whitewater rafting and visited historic Old Town Fort Collins.
A RARE CHANCE TO STUDY HUMAN CADAVERSThe 25 students at the first session were divided into small
groups. At the beginning of the week, each group received a
central question from a medical case study and was challenged
to answer it at week’s end using information gained from
interactive anatomy lessons. These lessons included the rare
opportunity to examine human cadavers, which CSU acquires
after people elect, before death, to donate their bodies to
science education through the State Anatomical Board.
“We built Anatomy Camp around the idea of giving students a
main challenge at the beginning of the week, in the form of a
clinical case study, and having them gather and put together
information in order to solve the case study and present their
findings to the group at the end of the week,” said Clapp, a CSU
2016 Best Teacher awardee. “It’s a summer camp, but at the
same time students gain valuable knowledge of anatomy and
the skills needed to solve a novel problem.”
The rigorous schedule includes working with real anatomical
specimens, dissecting animal specimens, studying cross-
sectional anatomy, building anatomical clay models, and learning
suture techniques, Virtual Human Dissector (VHD) software, and
how to use stethoscopes and take blood pressure readings.
Top CSU anatomy students and graduates work as camp
counselors, mentoring the visiting high-schoolers.
STUDENTS ENCOURAGED TO BE INQUISITIVE“High school is a good time to explore options and learn about
the different opportunities that are out there,” said anatomy camp
counselor Jolysa Gallegos, a 2016 graduate of the biomedical
sciences master’s program. “These students are here because
they want to be here and it shows.”
Many students were at first nervous, yet faculty, staff and
counselors quickly put them at ease. “This week, be bold,
creative, inquisitive, and ask questions,” Clapp encouraged the
students. “You’re here to better understand yourself and how
you learn, and we’re here to help.”
Anatomy camp counselor Derek George, a 2016 graduate of the
biomedical sciences master’s program, said he was inspired to
pursue medical school after exposure to human anatomy in high
school. He now hopes to provide a similar experience for high-
schoolers attending the CSU Anatomy Camp.
“I had a wonderful, enthusiastic teacher who talked about how
much good people in medicine can do,” said George, who soon
will start medical school at the University of Colorado. “I wanted
to give back and potentially inspire these high school students
to pursue a similar path.”
“This week, be bold, creative, inquisitive, and ask questions. You’re here to better understand yourself and how you learn,
and we’re here to help.”
Cameron Epstein takes
blood pressure readings
with instruction from
Nicole Kaley.
New CSU Anatomy Camp gives high-schoolers a unique look at the human body
July 22, 2016 | By Rhea Maze
CAMPERS INTERESTED IN HEALTH AND MEDICINEMany of those attending the first Anatomy Camp said they likewise are
interested in medical school; they hoped the camp would accelerate
their education.
“I came to Anatomy Camp because I want to be a battlefield trauma
surgeon,” said Dylan Cowart, a sophomore from Fort Collins. His favorite
activities included working with cadavers, suturing and participating in
college-level lectures. “I learned so much this week about things I’ve
never even thought about before.”
Anatomy Camp was more exploratory for other students.
“I don’t really know what I want to do after high school—that’s the main
reason I came here,” said Joy Johnson, a sophomore from the Denver area.
“I wanted to experience what it might be like to choose a path like this, and
I’ve learned that I’m a lot less squeamish than I thought I would be. Now I’m
thinking about going into physical therapy so that I can help people.”
Brodsky, the student from Florida, said the suturing clinic was her favorite
camp activity.
“I want to be a pediatric orthopedic surgeon,” she said. “When I was in
seventh grade, I had to have surgery on my knee and I loved my surgeon
so much I decided I wanted to be just like her. I’m not sure where I’ll go to
college, but after learning to suture and working with real cadavers, I feel
like I’ve already gotten a good head start.”
Coleman Cornelius contributed to this report.
Photographs by William A. Cotton/CSU Creative Services
For more information and to view a video about Anatomy Camp, visit anatomycamp.colostate.edu.