Program Affiliated Institutions:

• University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine
• Winooski High School
• 4-H, Family and Migrant Programs

Program Background

Since 2000, meta-analyses have been published, citing the importance of mentor-mentee dyads and their direct impact on academic outcomes for student groups. These relationships become remarkably important for student success when stratifying this approach for academically underrepresented individuals. NIH metadata (Dahlberg ML, 2019) also found that factors such as educational access, scientific identity, social identity, and professional support correlate with improved educational success in underrepresented student groups. Our Health Heroes Program has created a model whereby mentor-mentee dyads focused on STEMM are maintained, emphasizing scientific identity and career development. The program provides exposure for students to medical education, intending to create opportunities for medical career prospects. This approach outlines a program led by medical and non-medical educators to support the career aspirations of underrepresented high school students through STEMM education and mentorship.

Relevance to ASPBP

The mission of ASPBP is to create opportunities for learners, with a strong focus on supporting educational equity and developing best practices to support educational longevity, our program is inherently the same. Underrepresented learners are frequently not supported with an experience that permits the opportunity for success and educational expansion. Many of our programs’ mentors can speak to these experiences personally. Our Health Heroes program is committed to providing an organic educational experience unique to the needs of each learner.

Target Population

The program is designed to work with Vermont teens between 14 and 18 years of age who identify as underserved. It seeks to identify students who have an interest or curiosity in the medical and non-medical sciences and engage with students lacking a career goal in the hopes of expanding their potential career interests.

Lessons Learned

The pilot program included three in-person 1.5-hour workshops, which introduce students to medical topics focused on nutritional awareness, chronic disease, and mental health, to empower students to utilize this knowledge for supporting themselves and their families. The workshops introduced students to medical skills and techniques such as suturing, microscopy, and skin biopsies. Workshops were run by medical faculty, medical students, and undergraduate science ambassadors. Learners completed pre/post-assessments. We initially found attendance to be a challenge. This was resolved by holding the workshops at the students’ school to limit transportation barriers. The programs' goal is to support mentees and create future mentors. During our second cycle, students from the previous year helped facilitate workshops with our mentors. Feedback from mentees revealed interest in hands-on medical experiences, finding support for academic challenges, identifying key mentors to support individualized career building, and learning how to use medical technology such as ultrasound, all of which our program is actively pursuing. Collectively, the model supports both retention of the program amongst the students, along with creating greater opportunities for mentorship.