Mini-Med Camp

The Augusta University/University of Georgia Medical Partnership hosted its inaugural Mini-Med Summer Camp in the summer of 2022. Mini-Med Camp is an exciting, weeklong camp designed to introduce campers to the field of medicine through team-based learning, hands-on projects, games, and art to learn about the human body.

The camp is a collaboration between the Medical Partnership and UGA's Summer Academy program. The camp is developed and led by rising second-year medical students at Medical Partnership who have worked with administration, faculty, and staff to create an engaging experience. Campers also get to talk to local doctors who are practicing medicine in specialty fields. For older campers, the paths to becoming a physician and the college process are also discussed.

“Our goal in creating this camp is to offer a welcoming and inclusive environment that allows students to feel like they belong in the medical field. We are hoping to spark a love of learning and inspire our campers to consider a future career as a physician,” said Tai Sherman, director of external affairs at the Medical Partnership.

Camp is held for six weeks over the summer and two camps are offered— Mini-Med 1 for ages 11-13 and Mini-Med 2 for ages 14-17.

“By the end of this summer we will have engaged 500 young people and hopefully inspired some of them to become part of the next generation of physicians,” said Sherman.

Parent feedback was equally positive with the parent of a camper sharing this: “My husband is a physician at Emory University Hospital, and many of our friends and our daughter's friends' parents are doctors. Yet, she has never said she was inspired to go to medical school. She really has never desired to go until she attended this camp and saw that the field of medicine is so fascinating, rich with potential for improving people’s lives, and so challenging.”

Rising second-year medical student, aspiring pediatrician, and 2023 camp director Justin Rowe said, “There are many young people and students out there who rarely get an encouraging word or may believe they could never have a chance of becoming a doctor. In a lot of ways, I was one of those students. I often struggled in school, particularly with math, and I could be very hard on myself. It took a village to help me build the confidence necessary to start seriously pursuing medicine, my hope is that Mini-Med Camp will help young students take the first steps in their own journey. I want them to experience a culture of overwhelming support and encouragement. I want them to feel empowered to try new things, be interested by some aspect of the medical field, and to see that medicine can be fun!”