Story by Emily Gersema
Photos by Charlie Leight
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 2, 2009
PHOTO: Freshmen Leah Wandrie, top, and Andrew Cable, bottom right, and others take part in a biomedical science class at Campo Verde High School in Gilbert.
GILBERT - Leah Wandrie turns the sheep's heart in her hand as if it were a piece of pottery.
She has poked the gray muscular lump with toothpicks that look like mini-flagpoles marked by tags that she scribbled on to identify veins, arteries and the chambers of the heart on its exterior.
Leah is not a veterinarian, nor a medical student. She is a freshman at Campo Verde High School in Gilbert.
"This is the first organ I've ever held in my hand," Leah said. "This was my first dissection ever."
It's a year of firsts for Campo Verde High students and their new high school, which just opened in August.
Leah is among 56 students who are the first teens to be in the school's new four-year biomedical program - an advanced science program that gradually increases in rigor and training until they graduate.
"We're the guinea pigs," she joked.
She added with seriousness: "This program is the reason I wanted to be here."
Created by the not-for-profit and industry-backed education group, Project Lead The Way, the biomedical program at Campo Verde High School and about 34 other high schools nationwide is meant to give students a leg up on careers in science, technology, engineering, math or medical fields.
The group aims to end the nationwide shortage of science workers by nurturing students' interest in science- and tech-related careers. It also wants the nation to become the best in the world in innovation and productivity.
PHOTO: Science teacher Shawn Hardina introduces students to the heart during Principles of Biomedical Science class at Campo Verde High School in Gilbert.
Project Lead The Way's special programs for engineering and biomedicine can arm Leah and other teens with the skills necessary to surge through advanced college science and math courses, and into jobs in areas such as the pharmaceutical industry, bioengineering, computer science and other high-tech fields.
Developed by the group's teachers and curriculum experts just two years ago, the biomedical program has been adopted by schools in 14 states over the past two years.
The program is not just for honors students, but to get in, students have to be taking advanced-level science and math.
Douglas High School and Gilbert Public Schools' Campo Verde High are the only schools in Arizona that offer the biomedical program.
The program was picked for Campo Verde amid heavy influence from business leaders who supported Gilbert Public Schools' bond issue for building and opening the $54-million high school.
Representatives from local employers were on the committee, including what has become a conveniently located supporter of the biomedical program: Less than a block away and within sight of the high school's lobby sits Mercy Gilbert Medical Center on Val Vista Drive.
Laurie Eberts, the hospital's CEO and president, said the biomedical program will play a key role in supporting the emergence and growth of area hospitals.
"With the number of hospitals cropping up around the East Valley, we're going to have an even greater need for more health care workers in the future," she said.
Kathy Langdon, president and CEO of the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce, said she foresees area businesses and hospitals opening their doors to biomedical program students to job shadow workers and do internships so the students can decide what they're interested in, and learn what sort of jobs are available.
"We'll be able to get other types of businesses involved to give students different opportunities to look at other jobs, too," she said.
Two sections of 25-plus students each are learning about the human body, plus researching careers in law enforcement, research, medicine, and health. They've been introduced to scientific problem solving, and they'll learn how to write a basic grant proposal.
Program teacher and science department chair, Shawn Hardina, said this year's lessons began with a scenario that would intrigue any mystery fan: A woman named Anna Garcia is found dead and there is no obvious evidence as to what killed her.
Throughout the course, students learn more about Anna, her health conditions, her habits, age and other factors that could have influenced her death. They'll also learn about the various professionals that work to solve mysteries like this one, such as medical examiner, forensic scientist, and crime investigator.
They record everything they learn about those jobs in a career journal.
Hardina encourages the students' exploration and questioning. He said he aims to make the course similar to situations they'll encounter in real life.
The students are responding.
"I look forward to this class every day," said Jazmine Cole, a freshman from Gilbert. "I just like how he teaches. He's laid back. You're supposed to make mistakes."
Students said Hardina never gives them the answer.
He laughs when he hears this.
"We've talked about the difference between getting an 'A' and learning," Hardina said. "I think they're smarter and more talented and have more ability than they think they have. I've told them: Sometimes you don't know it's right, but you have to just go with it."
Project Lead The Way
• Twenty-three Arizona schools have science preparatory programs whose lesson plans were developed by the not-for-profit, which is based in New York. Only two - Gilbert's Campo Verde High and Douglas High School - have the biomedical program. The others have the engineering program.
• The industry-backed organization started in 1998 to lure more students into the engineering and science fields to address an ongoing shortage of workers in science, technology, engineering and math.
• PTLW piloted engineering programs at 12 high schools in New York when it began.
• Today, about 3,280 schools nationwide have at least one PTLW program.
Program draws new students
The biomedical program at Campo Verde High School has snagged some students who live outside of the Gilbert Public Schools district.
Many are from the nearby Higley Unified School District. Most of the program students live in Gilbert Public Schools' boundaries.
The students are enthusiastic about what they're learning:
Ashley Hepner, a 10th-grader, gave up varsity soccer at Higley High to attend Campo Verde's biomedical program: "Everybody when they're a kid has that one thing they've always wanted to be. I've always wanted to be a surgeon. This is more important."
Gabe McInnis, a 10th-grader, gave up his position as quarterback for Higley High and carpools with Ashley to school: "I came here just for this (program). We have always wanted to be doctors since we were little."
Marissa Davis, a 10th-grader, was on the student council at Higley High and is one of the school's top singers, but she wanted to start learning what she needed to know for a career in medicine or science: "I'm trying to get a full-ride scholarship."
Samantha Schleiger, a 10th-grader, said she has been helping her father tend to her mother, who has been sick. "My mom is an RN," she said. "I just want to be an ER nurse. I want to see everything."
