Kranz Participates in Hippocrates Circle Program

Kranz Participates in Hippocrates Circle Program

    Seventh and eighth graders at Kranz Intermediate School in the Mountain View School District (MVSD) are participating in the Kaiser Permanente Hippocrates Circle Program, where they are learning from physicians and current medical students that having a career as a physician is absolutely possible.     

     The goal of the Hippocrates Circle Program is to increase the diversity in the physician population by instilling self-esteem and providing the tools necessary for young diverse middle school students to set educational and career goals and achieve a higher education in medicine.  Through mentoring, guiding and educating, students are learning about the various roles physicians play in the health field and are able to have contact with medical professionals and medical students.  The program typically provides several opportunities to interact with practicing physicians and includes visits to medical schools enabling students to talk directly to medical students and shadowing physicians at a hospital.  Like many things this year, the program had to adjust due to the pandemic, and is currently being held virtually.  Although they aren’t able to be together in person, the online sessions have provided great insight for the 31 Kranz students, empowering them to pursue their goal to become a physician.

     The first session of the program included a panel of physicians who shared their background and what led them to choose a career in medicine. The 7th and 8th graders heard from physicians who studied in Mexico then came to the United States to pursue their medical degree in various concentrations such as pediatrics, obstetrics/gynecology and general medicine.

     During the second session, Kranz’s group heard from a panel of students from the Latino Medical Student Association in the USC Keck School of Medicine program. The panel shared their high school and college experience and what led them to medical school.

     “Our students were engaged and interested in what the medical students had to say,” said Miriam Martinez, Kranz Counselor.  “They asked a lot of questions and inquired about undergrad studies and wanted to know how many hours the medical students spent studying.  They were also very curious if they had worked on cadavers.”

     According to Martinez, the highlight of this session for the students was being able to witness the dissection of a pig's heart.

     Kranz Intermediate’s young scholars are very excited about what is coming up next in the future Hippocrates Circle sessions and look forward to learning more about a career as a physician.

     “This has been a fantastic opportunity for our Kranz Cougars and we greatly appreciate the partnership of Kaiser Permanente,” said George Schonborn, MVSD’s Director of Pupil Personnel Services.

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