Southwest Hosts Health Science Summer Institute

For more information, contact:
Clint Norwood
901-333-4095
cnorwood3@southwest.tn.edu

The Trezevant Career and Technical Center (TCTC) Health Science Summer Institute faculty - consisting of Ms. Patryce Gleeton and Ms. Mia Moore - and 12 students visited Southwest for a Biotechnology Forensic Science Day. The high school students were involved in a three week TCTC summer course that provides them with rare opportunities to visit several colleges and businesses throughout Memphis. The students were from local high schools including Germantown, Whitehaven, White Station, Trezevant, and Cordova.

For five years, Natural Sciences Professor Dr. Juliann Waits has hosted the TCTC Summer Institute, which consists of students learning about forensics in the forensic science lab. This culminated in students spending a day learning about blood spatter, trajectory analysis, and blood spatter patterns. They had an opportunity to tour portions of the Union Avenue Campus and spent time learning about the scientific equipment in the Biotechnology labs.

"This is a fantastic opportunity to develop a stronger relationship with the Shelby County Schools' Summer Programs," said Dr. Waits. "The students receive a workshop that meets the needs of their educational curriculum for their summer course and Southwest gets an opportunity to show what we can offer in programs and facilities to those students as they prepare to decide on where they want to go to college."

Dr. Waits and others who participated extolled the benefits of this event. "The students were energetic and excited to be on our campus. For me personally, this relationship has always been about connecting with the teachers, educating and inspiring young scientists, and giving back to the community."