6 High Schools, 50 SMU Volunteers, 450 Oakland Students Engaged
On Friday October 18, 2024 Samuel Merritt University’s Ethnic Health Institute was excited to hold its first Interprofessional Day of Service with Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) as its inaugural partner. The day is the first of its kind and builds on a long-term partnership between the two institutions, which has historically included an annual school nurses conference and hosting field trips for students across the district.
More than 50 enthusiastic SMU health sciences students, staff and faculty reached over 450 students across six Oakland Unified high schools with dedicated health career pathways. The schools included Castlemont, Life Academy of Health and Bioscience, Oakland High, Oakland Tech, Rudsdale Newcomer High School, and Skyline where career technical education is a key component of OUSD’s health career pathway experience for students. With classroom visits from health professionals, students find relevant connections between what they learn at school and life beyond the classroom.
The Center for Community Engagement and Ethnic Health Institute partnered with Dr. Emily Frank, Pediatrician and Director of Health Education Partnerships, Oakland from the UCSF Center for Science, Education, and Outreach to organize the event. “It is so powerful for our students to be able to learn from professionals in the field; it brings a different level of engagement, interest, and ability for students to see themselves in those careers in the future.”
A recent study showed that students in the pathway program were 11% more likely to graduate from high school and 20% more likely to enroll in college compared with their peers who were not enrolled in a career pathway.
During the course of the school day, SMU representatives engaged students in 22 classrooms across the district. Students learned about various careers and educational paths towards nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, physician assistant, and podiatry. Hands-on activities included calculating their heart rate, learning about assistive devices used in physical therapy, and identifying “occupations” or roles that bring meaning and purpose to their lives.
“I have family members who have arthritis and have very shaky hands. It’s hard for them to do normal tasks. This was the first time I’ve heard about occupational therapy. I learned that they get to be creative and use different types of tools like the “grabber” to make people’s lives easier. I want to share what I learned today with my family and especially my mom’s friend who lives alone and sometimes can’t cook for herself.” - G., age 16, Skyline High School student
“It was really nice to hear the information directly from nurses rather than reading it online. I learned more about different levels of nursing degrees and more about travel nursing. Hearing from real people from the profession made it feel more realistic and welcoming. Sometimes getting the information online can be intimidating.” - K. age 16, Skyline High School student
As part of its move to a new flagship campus in downtown Oakland in 2026, SMU will be expanding enrollment and deepening its partnership with local schools. The 10-story building will feature 19 classrooms, 41,000 square feet of simulated lab space, state-of-the-art anatomy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and podiatric medicine labs, a makerspace, a motion analysis research center, and much more.
Samuel Merritt University is committed to fostering a healthcare workforce that is representative of Oakland communities and is grateful for all the volunteers and community partners who helped make this day a success.
