College for a Day goes beyond a campus visit. Roughly 800 high school students sampled abbreviated versions of college courses in their academic areas of interest.

Students — primarily juniors — from high schools in Flathead, Lake, Sanders and Lincoln counties gathered for the seventh College for a Day event at Flathead Valley Community College.

Students chose from visual arts, business and information technology, health services, science, technology, engineering, math, trades, English literature, outdoor science, forensics, biotechnology and criminal justice, education, performing arts and culinary arts.

Katy Brooke, college program coordinator for student admissions, said the purpose of the event is to expose high school students to college during the year many home in on post-secondary plans. 

“We’re making sure they get that exposure while they’re still in high school and while they’re still making decisions about their future,” Brooke said. “We want to plant the seed that college is attainable for all of them. I think a lot of students are intimidated by the idea of college. This shows there’s nothing to be intimidated about. There’s something for everybody at college.”

All of the course samplings were hands-on. 

In the Rebecca Chaney Broussard Center for Nursing and Health Science, students interested in medicine were learning treatment techniques on medical simulation mannequins.

Under the supervision of college paramedic students and Reece Roat, clinical coordinator for the paramedic program, high-schoolers such as Flathead High School junior Serina Geames were practicing cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, manual ventilation, spinal mobilization, shock management and using automated external defibrillators.

Geames is planning to become a pediatric surgeon and she said the experience of sampling courses such as radiology and coding gave her an idea of what goes on in other medical professions.

“It’s just very informative,” Geames said. “I wasn’t exactly sure what other people did.”

In another classroom, Columbia Falls High School junior Ashley Bruni listened as Flathead Valley Community College Nursing Lab and Clinical Coordinator Cathy Relf led students through a heart arrhythmia simulation on a medical mannequin. 

“Here, students can see what you would do in an ICU. They check his pulses. He’s on oxygen, he’s on telemetry, he’s got two IV’s. We have students listen to his heart and lung sounds. I have them look at his telemetry,” Relf said, showing how she manipulates the heartbeat from a laptop.

Bruni, who also plans to become a pediatric surgeon, echoed Geames’ sentiments when she said it was interesting to learn how different medical professions work together to care for one patient.

“Today has taught me about the different things that go along with being in the medical field,” Bruni said.

In the Arts and Technology Building, students in the performing arts were reciting poetry and performing in the theater. Downstairs, enticing smells floated out of the kitchen where students were cooking with culinary arts instructors and college students.

Glacier High School junior Francisco Cooke was busy making salad dressings.

“I really want to be a chef just like my dad,” Cooke said, adding that College for a Day “is giving me a better grasp on it.” 

Nearby, Columbia Falls High School junior Shealyn Lefebvre chatted with Sarah Etzler, a first-year student at the Culinary Institute of Montana, asking Etzler how she liked the college’s program and inquiring about her goals after graduation.

“I eventually want to own my own catering business I love the idea of cooking for people,” Lefebvre said, recalling that she was helping in the kitchen when she was 4 years old. “I like the idea of doing big events like weddings and birthdays, events people remember forever.”

For Geames, Bruni, Cooke and Lefebvre, College for a Day solidified their college and career paths.

“For me, I know I want to do cooking,” Lefebvre said. “I know that I want to go into a culinary program. I know where I want to go with it. For me, it was getting that hands-on experience in the classroom — the vibe of how things run.” 

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com