From left, Franklin Community High School seniors Jolie Engelau, Gavin McKay, Alex Kimberlin, Abby Demaree, Hailee Peckinpaugh, Ava Pinnick, Kalyn Bryant and Tiffany Floyd completed all four of the high school’s medical classes, including an internship.
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During the final days of school, a group of Franklin Community High School students wore white lab coats, displaying t-shirts of the colleges they committed to underneath. They were on their way to careers in the medical field.
Seniors who completed at least three of four medical classes Franklin High School offers earned a red cord to wear at graduation, while students who completed all four classes took home a white lab coat. Those classes include: “Principles of Biomedical Science,” “Human Body Systems,” “Medical Interventions” and “Biomedical Innovation,” students who completed the classes said.
The eight students who completed all four classes included: Jolie Engelau, Gavin McKay, Alexander Kimberlin, Abby Demaree, Hailee Peckinpaugh, Ava Pinnick, Kalyn Bryant and Tiffany Floyd. Those students also completed internships, shadowing mental health professionals at Needham Elementary School, observing the emergency room at Columbus Regional Health and working with a forensic technician at the Franklin Police Department, students said.
The classes were offered through the Project Lead the Way nationwide program, which focuses on high school coursework in science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, according to the organization’s website.
Kimberlin said his decision to take the classes stemmed from his natural curiosity and desire to help people.
“I’ve always had a curious mind. I want to know how everything works,” Kimberlin said. “I’ve also always loved helping people. I was the first to graduate my Boy Scouts class with a merit badge and it brought out a passion in me.”
Kimberlin plans to go to Indiana University, where he will major in biology and minor in criminology. While he’s long desired to go into the medical field, an interest in forensics has taken hold recently, and was bolstered by an internship with a Franklin Police Department forensic technician, he said.
“I took Principals of Biomedical Science and Human Body Systems at the same time, and with that I learned about forensics, and now it’s one of my huge passions. I love the investigative process and dealing with criminals,” Kimberlin said. “I got to job shadow the forensic technician at the police station in Franklin, who showed me how to do blood spatter analysis and check the trajectory of bullets. There’s a lot of geometry involved.”
McKay said he’s interested in pursuing a job in the medical field and plans to share a room at Indiana University with Kimberlin. In freshman year, McKay saw room in his schedule for an extra science class, which eventually turned into finishing four Project Lead the Way classes, he said.
“It’s really project-based and you can see the lab tests they do in the medical field,” McKay said.
McKay, who wants to be a nurse anesthetist, didn’t know which career field he wanted to pursue until senior year, when, during his Biomedical Innovation class, he interned at the Columbus Regional Hospital emergency room, he said.
“I got to work with physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners and nurses assistants,” McKay said. “It was really nice getting to see what the E.R. vibe was like. I found I mostly aligned with what the nurses did and found I really wanted to be a nurse.”
Demaree was driven by a desire to help people as she decided to pursue medicine, but said she was also unsure of her exact path until she progressed through the classes. Although she said she wasn’t excited about the material during her first class, she was able to explore her interests more as time went on, she said.
“I wanted to work with other people and help them the best way I knew how. I was a lifeguard when I first started. I liked first aid and helping people with that, and I wanted to see where the classes would take me,” Demaree said.
Demaree is heading to Purdue University, where she will study brain and behavioral science, with a goal of becoming a neuropsychologist, she said.
“I got to job shadow the behavioral interventionist, school counselors and school nurse at Needham Elementary School. I saw how the pandemic affected kids and their behavior and development, and how a lack of human contact altered their brains,” Demaree said. “I took all four classes and they were extremely helpful. I feel like it really sets you up for college and the future. It helps you know what you do and don’t want to do.”
