By Jordan Bickham
Staff Writer
The cafeterias this past Saturday were filled with swarm of expo guests exploring the various attractions at the expo with the Public Service Academy students standing out in their matching red shirts. Not only did these crowds of people fill both cafeterias, but they were also inside the lecture hall, the Commons, the large gym and even outside with the petting zoo.
This was the second annual PSA Free Health Expo and was held by the students of the academy themselves. The expo included face painting, a petting zoo and dozens of vendors ready to display their knowledge. Not only was it a fun place to visit and hang out at, but it was also a great place to learn about careers in the health field.
Planned and operated by the students themselves, they were responsible for contacting vendors and coordinating their presentations at the big expo. Students got to learn more about the careers they were interested in while displaying their knowledge to the hundreds of guests that attended the expo.
“The expo is a way for us to provide service to the community and service learning,” PSA coordinator and Health Science teacher Brenda Brinkman said. “The service component is obviously our students working eight hours that day to put this thing on,”
Students involved in the medical aspect of the academy have definitely been hard at work getting together with the vendors and perfecting their presentations, but it is all for a great cause. Sophomore Jenn Love said the hours dedicated to planning the expo was well worth it.
“Obviously the whole idea behind PSA is public service. Public service is helping others and the whole purpose of [this expo] is to educate the community on different topics, like what would be best for them,” Love said. “And we have the vendors coming in so they can meet them and figure out plan relating to the different topics they’re covering.”
Not only is the medical side of the academy actively involved in the expo, but also the education branch has been busy testing experiments.
“On the education side of PSA, we are doing science experiments that are elementary school-aged friendly,” sophomore Ali Martinez. “I’m working a booth called Ghost Writer where you take lemon juice and you write with it on a piece of paper and then you apply heat to the paper and it makes it show up kind of like invisible ink.”
The expo’s goal is to help students understand and learn more in depth about the career paths they wish to pursue in the near future. Whether it is educational or medical, the expo promotes both of the very different sides of the academy.
“It has helped me learn how to prepare for different activities you might do in the classroom in the future,” Martinez said. You have to do trial and error; you can’t just go into a classroom and decide you want to do this with your kids. So it teaches you preparation skills that will get you ready for actual teaching lessons.”
This was the academy’s second expo, larger than the first one that occurred last year, which had over 1,500 people attend. Not only were there entertainment aspects to the event, but also ways to give back, such as the spring blood drive. There were also free health screenings and a lecture series with professionals talking to promote wellness and health.
“The connection to the community is since we are health care and education, we want to understand the needs of the community and because of health care, promote wellness,” Brinkman said. “And that is why we’re offered the health screenings and all the different things that are at the expo. And my expectation with the academy students is that the expo grows every year.”
Her expectation was right; the expo was a huge success with tons of people showing up to find out how to live a healthy life and what career options are available in the healthcare field. With dozens of vendors presenting their information, lectures, blood donations, a petting zoo, face painting for the kids, various colleges, and even school clubs, there was plenty of activities available.
“It was really fun, I did not think there would be as many vendors as there were and as many things to do as there are. I walked around and looked at a few booths, a lot of clubs from the school are here,” Martinez said. “The National Art Honor Society is here, Love Your Neighbor, Operation Smile, and it’s really neat to see all these clubs I might want to join and different organizations that are really cool and I did not know about.”
The Health Expo was a hit- not only with its visitors- but also with the academy students themselves.
“Overall I think it went a lot smoother than I thought it would be. There were more people, it was really organized and the vendors looked very professional. There were not many major road bumps or anything, so I think it went pretty well,” PSA sophomore Mason David said.
Many of the visitors were also impressed by how organized the expo was and how many activities were available.
“It was quite fun. The most interesting thing was probably all the interactive stuff they had here. It’s cool to get a hands on experience and that kind of thing,” sophomore Chris Reed said.
In addition to being a graded major project, it also helps them understand their future careers.
“It’s a good experience to work with the public since that’s the goal of our academy. This expo is giving us a feel for working with different age groups and the public, which we will have to do in our future careers,” Martinez said.
