Several classes from Naperville Central and Naperville North took a field trip on Nov. 17 to hear lectures given by medical professionals. 

The Naperville 203 Medical Conference was held at Northern Illinois University. The field trip introduced students taking Intro to Health Occupations, Health Occupations, Sports Medicine and Central’s Anatomy and Physiology classes to career options in the healthcare field. 

Chelsea Summy, an Anatomy and Physiology teacher at Central, said the annual medical conference lets students know more about what going into the medical field is like. 

Deetya Singhal, a junior in Sports Medicine, plans to be a physical therapist and thought the field trip helped solidify decisions regarding her future.

“I feel like the field trip was a really good experience for anyone like me,” Singhal said. “It was a really good way to get knowledge on, obviously, careers, but also how to get there.” 

Students chose lecture sessions matching their field of interest. During the sessions, the students were able to ask individual questions and connect with professionals.

Junior Viloasha Wasanthakumaran, who is taking Health Occupations, aspires to be a Pediatrician. Wasanthakumaran said the lectures helped broaden her field of interests to other possible careers as well as provided confidence in the process.

“Before, I wasn’t sure what type of education I needed to get before I could pursue pediatrics,” Wasanthakumaran said. “But after meeting a pediatrician and being able to ask the questions that I actually had, I feel a little bit more confident about what I should be doing to be on track.” 

Students then explored College/Career Booths for possible college selections regarding healthcare before returning to their respective schools.

“There’s a lot of different areas of the healthcare field that I think people don’t consider,”said Amanda Haiser, Central’s Intro to Health Occupations and Health Occupations teacher. “We try and make sure we bring in a variety of professionals to help students figure out their career pathway a little bit more clearly.”