High school students participate in WVSOM clinical anatomy camp

LEWISBURG, WV (LOOTPRESS) – The West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (WVSOM) invited high school students to its Greenbrier County campus for an in-depth look at the human body during the second annual Clinical Anatomy Summer Experience camp, also known as C.A.S.E.

Young science enthusiasts are invited to the camp for one week for an introduction to anatomical structures and information on their significance through interactive activities.

Participating students partook in an array of activities including quiz-based games, group projects, and time in the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine’s gross anatomy lab, where various parts of the human body were available for exploration.

This year’s event saw participation from high school students ages 15 and up from in and out of state. Many of the camp participants were from Greenbrier County and surrounding areas, including Ava Stover, a Hinton native who described her experience.

“I’ve always been curious about what goes on in the body, and the camp gave me a hands-on look at things I’d been questioning for a long time,” said Stover. “I’d never seen anatomy in real life. I’d seen diagrams, but I wanted to get a deeper experience. I’d love to go into the medical field, and spending time in the anatomy lab and leering to property use surgical instruments gave me a feeling of, ‘I can do this.'”

WVSOM anatomy instructor and leader of the camp, Karen Wines noted that the 2023 camp, the pilot program, provided insight as to how the camp should operate, allowing the 2024 camp to be a closer approximation of the overall vision for the program.

“We had additional funding this year that allowed us to increase the number of campers from 10 to 15 and made it possible for me to hire three medical school interns to help with the program instead of one,” she said. “Last year’s pilot gave us time to think about how this should work, and this year’s camp is how I can see us operating as we move forward.

Funding from the Jeanne G. Hamilton and Lawson W. Hamilton Jr. Family Foundation, WVSOM Foundation, WVSOM Alumni Association, and FirstEnergy Corporation supported this year’s Clinical Anatomy Summer Experience camp.