The NEW Center hosted the 5th Annual Scholars Day event on Sunday, April 23, 2017 with over 900 Health Professions Affinity Community (HPAC) students and their families in attendance.
Scholars Day is an opportunity for all HPAC students to share their projects with a poster session and oral presentations from the 2016-2017 academic year. The event brings students, families, and community members together to showcase their work in tackling issues like mental health, obesity, substance abuse and food insecurity among many others.
HPAC is a newly designed pipeline program to engage students and advance their academic and career progress toward health professions. The program relies on existing community assets and bundling them in a manner that further supports student success. Students from varied circumstances can benefit from opportunities to apply academic learning in real-world circumstances and from learning how to employ existing and at times, hidden personal and community resources to improve their community.
The goals, strategies, and methods reflected in the HPAC program are consistent with finding ways to better meet the vast needs of the region, of finding and supporting qualified “Ohio” grown students from diverse backgrounds desiring to enter health professions. The key principle of the program is that students increase their academic scholarship, understand the value of research, further engage in the community, and become well prepared young adults who are able to achieve a level of preparation compatible with their health career aspirations.
To view a sample of HPAC Student Project Videos, please visit https://vimeo.com/channels/1198763.
To learn more about HPAC, read about their program here.