College in a bottle LHS senior talks about time at SFA pre-med camp

By Luke Farr

This past July, I had an amazing opportunity to attend the Joint Admission Medical Program PreMed Camp at Stephen F. Austin State University, a six day camp that included three classes, professor lectures, labs, shadowing opportunities, volunteering, and time in the recreation center. In the process of packing and preparing for this camp, I realized it was my first time to be completely separated from my family and home. Once we arrived, the reality set in that I would be left with total strangers for six days; however, looking back, I realize that the experience was beyond what I could have possibly expected.

On the first day of camp, we began with a packed schedule until 10 o’clock that night. I quickly learned to expect my day to last from 7 AM to at least 11 PM. There were twenty-two campers, including myself, who came from all parts of Texas, ran- ging from fifteen minutes to six hours away. We attended daily lectures from professors in chemistry, biology, and statistics, and, of course, completed daily assignments that followed. At the end of the week, we faced final exams in each of the classes. Also, I par- ticipated in three labs throughout the week: conducting enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay testing, dissecting a pig’s heart, and suturing an open wound model.

Luke|Continued to page 8