Summer Archives

Boston Cooper - Camp xSEL

 

This summer I worked on Camp xSEL, a 4 week summer camp designed for high school and undergraduate students in Liberia who are looking to continue their education into the medical field. The goal of the camp is to provide students with the skills and education necessary for a successful medical career in Liberia. For eight weeks, I worked with students and doctors from Vanderbilt Institute of Global Health, Yale University, and the University of Liberia A.M. Dolgotti College of Medicine (AMD) to evaluate and recreate a curriculum, create infographics, brainstorm covid procedures, and recruit and hire staff members for the camp.

 

My original task was only to evaluate the curriculum that the students would be learning and then provide suggestions and make changes. However, as the weeks went on there were several other side projects that I ended up completing. First was the infographic. I was contacted by Chelsea Plyler, the Yale-Liberia Project Manager from Yale University, to design a schematic that would display the new 7-year curriculum being implemented at AMD and the different topics being taught at each level. The medical school was getting an entire curricular overhaul as the program transition from nine years to seven years. Across the board, many things had to be updated, including the information that gets distributed to benefactors, professors, and other associates of the school.

 

The next major task that I completed was the evaluation and reconstruction of the curriculum of Camp xSEL. The subjects of Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Math are being taught in accordance with AMD’s new 7 year curriculum. After comparing and contrasting the Pre-med year from the medical school with the previous High School curriculum for Camp xSEL, I presented my evaluation to the team of doctors and students working on Camp xSEL. I was then instructed to implement any changes from my evaluations that I saw fit into the new pre-medical curriculum. After this was completed, I was tasked with creating procedures and material lists for labs that corresponded with each week of material in the Biology, Chemistry, and Physics courses. I was able to outsource some of the ideas for these labs from my high school Biology and AP Chemistry teachers.

 

After my work with the curriculum was finished, I moved on to join the rest of the Camp xSEL team with the recruitment and hiring process for the camp. This process did not start until the last few weeks of my time with the team. Since I could not be in Liberia, I helped by reviewing the applications of all of the doctors, teachers, and medical school students who were willing to lend a hand with the camp this fall. After they all filled out an application and sent in their resume, we rated them 1-5 in several categories based on their responses and determined how they would fit into the camp.

 

Camp xSEL is a huge step in the right direction for Liberia’s medical infrastructure. Being a part of such an important building block towards rebuilding the country’s healthcare system is nothing short of fulfilling. Hopefully the work that I have done will help the camp become a success and assist these young aspiring doctors in reaching their full potential.