COLUMBUS, Ohio — Health care is among the top industries in the country, based on both the amount of employees and dollars spent, but as more folks retire and the population ages, the U.S. is expected to need more medical professionals in the years ahead to care for our communities.

    What You Need To Know

  • Ohio State University College of Medicine is hosting about 1,000 middle and high school students this week for Anatomy Outreach Days

  • The annual event provides hands-on experiences to kids using some of the same equipment and specimens the medical students use to inspire future interest in attending the college

  • Organizers said 26 schools registered to participate in this year's event

This week, the Ohio State University College of Medicine is welcoming about 1,000 middle and high school students to campus for a chance to learn more about medical school and careers during Anatomy Outreach Days.

Kids from the 26 schools registered for the program are visiting labs for hands-on experiences hosted by medical students and instructors in several departments like emergency medicine and urology.

After watching an ultrasound for the first time, Nakyra Bryant glided the probe like a pro over a volunteer’s torso to bring a grainy image of a liver onto a nearby screen.

“Only thing I know about this, they’re used for babies and stuff,” said the ninth grade student, who is part of a group attending the event from Columbus teen mentor center All THAT.

She and the rest of the students got the chance to see a black and white ultrasound image of a baby during pregnancy at a neighboring station. The crowd gathered around a computerized model programmed to show different symptoms when scanned.

“It is weird,” said Maliyah Beale-Hunter. “That’s why I’m not having kids. No kids for me.”

But they are a big part of Antwan Norris’s future plans. He said he picked out his career last year, in sixth grade.

“I love babies and I was so good with my hands,” he said. “I looked it up, what kind of jobs I could do. And it said OB/GYN.”

The students went from scanning living bodies, to holding a donor’s brain in their hands.

“This is someone’s memory,” said Anatomy Outreach Program Director Pilard Hanna, an assistant professor of anatomy at Ohio State University. “This is someone’s emotions, right? You’re holding someone’s real human brain in your hand.”

The chance to handle a real-life specimen used by medical school students was not Antwan’s favorite part of the day.

“I’m just disgusted,” he said.

He was surprised by all the wrinkles.

“I just think it would not have all these lumps like the cartoon characters, but it is what it is,” he said.

Despite this mind matter, he said he is standing by his plan to study at Ohio State and work toward his own medical degree. Thankful for the experience.

“My mom was like, ‘I wish you good luck with that and everything,’” he said. “And my dad, he was like, ‘congratulations.’“