A lookout sullied by low lying clouds two weeks ago at Fremont Older Preserve, part of the Open Space lands of the Peninsula.This morning I had the wonderful opportunity to speak to Tracey Gunn's honors anatomy and physiology class at Santa Clara High School. I've been working with the HealthTrust of Santa Clara; part of their mission is to get high school students interested in careers in the health sciences.
I've done a handful of these little talks now, and the caliber of these students never fails to impress me. They are all so bright and beautiful, curious and clever.
In these talks, I skim over the nuts and bolts of how to become a doctor - all the classes, applications, tests, etc. These students aren't dummies - they're all college-bound (and right now, waiting anxiously for the legendary fat envelopes) - when I ask them how old you have to be to become a physician, they're pretty accurate. Usually they guess around 30, although today someone blurted out "80!" which is sometimes how old you feel at the end of the day...
I also talk a little bit about what it means to me to be a plastic surgeon, how it's not all boobs and Botox, and most importantly, why I love what I do. In this part of the talk, it gets more graphic and interactive - I put up pictures of tough cases I've confronted in my surgical career and challenge the students to "be the plastic surgeon". Their response is always impressive, perhaps revealing a few aspiring surgeons in the crowd.
So thanks again to Ms. Gunn and her students for graciously hosting me this morning. It was fun, and hopefully we all left with something more to think about.
