Meharry Medical College partners with local middle and high schools for hands-on science experience

By Ariyana Griffin

Meharry Medical College is collaborating with local middle and high schools to provide workshops, summits and events for students to engage in science.

The Tennessee-based HBCU was founded in 1876 by Samuel Meharry along with four of his brothers. The institution now serves as the nation’s largest private, independent, historically Black academic health training center.

Understanding the importance of stimulating and inspiring young minds, the college has created several programs to give K-12 students the opportunity to have hands-on experiences with science.

“We go and speak to students at every age level and our students love to volunteer. They really take Meharry’s motto ‘worship of God through service to mankind’ to heart,” said Majornette Jefferson, the director of community outreach at Meharry. “And it’s great because whenever we have requests for volunteers, our students are eager to assist in so many ways. From our physical assistant students to our medical students to our dental students, they always find a way to go and show up in the community.”

At the middle school level, the college partners with the Ascension Foundation to host a science day field trip called #GOALS, which stands for “Go Out And Love Science.”

Each year the volunteers work directly with Haynes Middle School to give the students hands-on experiences, listen to panels and have the opportunity to see some of what happens in a medical school classroom.

For the past two years, they also have participated in the Black History Month observance of Isaiah T. Creswell Middle Magnet School of the Visual & Performing Arts, the only middle school arts magnet school in Nashville. Meharry students have had the opportunity to go and speak with the students and provide insight into how science can be incorporated into things the teenagers love and are passionate about such as the arts.

“Meharry students were able to show the range of a dental student, letting them know if you’re good at art you can take that love for arts and bring it into dentistry. If you’re really good with your hands and sculpting, you may be great at dentistry,” Jefferson told the AFRO. “We just find ways to connect their current interests, wherever they are, and plug it into the future for them, because sometimes they don’t see a path.”

The medical school has also partnered with the mayor’s office, the Urban League of Middle Tennessee and the state of Tennessee to offer paid internships for high schoolers and young adults during the summer.

“Through the mayor’s office, the Power Youth Initiative, we work with upcoming juniors, seniors and incoming college freshmen to go through a lot of hands-on activities such as job shadowing several offices across the campus,” Jefferson shared with the AFRO.  They can also earn experiences in offices such as institutional advancement, marketing, student affairs, community engagement and outreach and pediatric medicine.

The school also hosts a Black Male STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) summit to provide the opportunity for students to hear from people in the medical field and partake in activities such as a stimulation lab where participants can perform medical procedures on mannequins. This year, Meharry is working with Tennessee State University’s SMART Center to provide virtual reality headsets and robots to show how gaming and robotics relate to STEAM. Coding will also be incorporated into break-out sessions to give students practical experiences to take away.

The summit serves as a learning opportunity not only for students but for parents as well. There are different panel discussions for parents to gain understanding and resources to learn about the opportunities in the field.

Similarly, Meharry hosts a Black Girls in STEAM summit during the spring. The programs are beneficial for the students as well as the school, Jefferson said, because it helps students build a connection with the school for future opportunities, and  ultimately creates a talent and employee pipeline for the school.