Tate Walden/ The Johnsonian
For the first time on Winthrop’s campus, students and health care professionals gathered to bridge the gap for their future careers.
On Sept. 5, the Health Professions Connection organization set up an event to encourage students and professionals to talk about what the next step is to further students’ futures. The program group has been established for a year and they spent over six months planning the Health Professions Connection Symposium.
Professionals in careers of English, physical education, sports, human performance, biology, chemistry, geology and more, tabled for internships and held discussions.
Dr. Dwight Dimaculangan, chair of the biology department and co-chair of Health Professions Connection organization, talks about the program, which consists of the Colleges of Arts and Sciences, Education and Business.
“HPC group is basically composed of different departments that have programs that have health orientated programs that try to prepare our students going into these health professions,” Dimaculangan said.
Amaz Braddy-Sumpter, a sophomore exercise science major, believes this event was important to him and other students.
“This [event] is beneficial because when junior year [comes] we are going to need internships and all the possible internships that are in Rock Hill are here at this Symposium,” Braddy-Sumpter said. “I think it closes the bridge between non-professionals … and professionals [to help students] … understand how to be professionals.”
Dimaculangan said that HPC is “trying to bring people together; the student, the program, and external people together that are interested in health.”
“The whole purpose is to try to improve the way we advise students … we really like to help … make it to where students no matter what their major is they have access to all of the information about health care programs so they can get involved with [it],” Dimaculangan said of the Health Professions Connection Symposium.
He also hope this will strengthen relations among students and professionals, “We really want this… symposium… [to] help providers… network with [students]. Also bringing in all [these] different professionals [will help] Winthrop… strengthen ties. [Our goal is to see] how Winthrop can help them in trying to improve [how we teach our students about] health care in the area,” Dimaculangan said.
Dimaculangan wants to use this event to further students’ preparedness to work in health care.
“We are meeting with those healthcare professionals … and trying to help gather ideas about how we can help them and how Winthrop can prepare our students to work with them also prepare our students go into their careers,” he said.
Dimaculangan is sure that the Health Professions Connection will continue to grow and put on more events and hopes that the Health Professions Connection Symposium will become an annual event.
