Mindy Notariano, assistant director for the Center for Student Excellence, has put together a panel of health care professionals for a Q&A session with the Health Sciences Living Learning Community. 

The CSE is offering three different panels this semester, with the Health Sciences panel being the first one. The next panel will take place the following week and will consist of a student panel. The third panel will be a faculty panel in the first week of November. 

Students of Notariano’s SE 101 honors class attended the session in the Ascension Hall classroom, and the panelists joined the session remotely via Zoom call. Students from outside the LLC were also encouraged to join.

Notariano described the purpose of these Q&A panels.

“The purpose of each of the Q&A panels is to give the students exposure to different people in the fields they are interested in,” described Notariano. “For the professional Q&A panel, the professionals were selected based on the students in my class and their various career interests.”

The professionals came from a range of backgrounds in health science, including a doctor, physical therapist, social worker, speech therapist, patient safety nurse and a nurse educator.

Prior to the health panel, Notariano asked her students to prepare questions for the panelists.

“They each asked their questions during the session and the attendees were students in my class, although I did invite other students outside of the LLC to attend,” said Notariano.

According to Notariano and her students, the health panel was a success and both the students and professionals had a helpful discussion.

Amber Peterson, a freshman kinesiology major, was one student who attended the event and found the responses helpful.

“I directed my question toward the physical therapist in the panel, and I asked him what the PT Program was like for him when he was training to go into physical therapy, as I was particularly curious about whether the program was more coursework or hands-on learning,” said Peterson. “He answered by explaining that it was a mix of both, but there is a lot of hands-on experience provided by the program like internship positions.”

Peterson found the panel informative and enjoyed hearing their experiences. 

“I also enjoyed hearing from other professionals with varying careers in the healthcare field such as nurses and physicians because I have very limited knowledge of those occupations prior to the panel,” shared Peterson. “Overall, the panel was very informative and expanded my knowledge of the field I’m going into, which is very helpful.”

Notariano believes that it is very important to have these panels for students interested in their field of study.

“I think it is important for students in every major to talk to professionals in the fields they want to pursue,” said Notariano. “This is a great way to gain insight into the day-to-day activities of that career.”