Sunday, October 28, 2007

Welcome to the 2007-2008 Bio Scholars Club Blog

Welcome to our Blog! This blog will update you on the weekly activities and accomplishments of the Bio Scholars of O'Bryant. So far in this academic year, we have had 5 meetings. At our first meeting on September 28th, 2007 we elected our co-secretaries, Manny Alers and Pierline Durand. We also, got an introduction to drug discovery and development to prepare us for the Merck Field Trip which was the following week on October 5th. At this field trip, we learned about the history of Merck and the process of developing a drug. We also meet with more than 5 scientists. For more information on Merck and their products visit, www.merck.com.

At our third meeting which was on October 12th, Dr. Wu really tested our knowledge on nursing. We had to answer questions about that field to help us understand what our next visitor was going to talk about. Some things we learned were that nursing is the second fastest growing job category in the United States, to become a RN (Registered Nurse) you need a high school diploma and a BSN ( Bachelors of Science in Nursing) and that the average debt of a medical school graduate is $130,000.

With all this information, we were ready for Maryellen Maguire-Eisen's presentation on October 19th. Michael Creese welcomed her with a very thought provoking introduction. We were all very honored to have her come and talk to us. She has over 20 years of experience in the nursing field and is currently the executive director of the Children's Melanoma Prevention Foundation. Melanoma is a cancer of the skin which 50% of the time appears as a mole. It is the #1 killer of white women ages 17-24. She emphasized that we should protect ourselves in the sun by wearing hats and sunscreen and even provided us with UV ray detecting wrist bands.

At our most recent meeting on October 26th, we prepared for our next speaker by writing 5 questions about how to become a doctor. We all are very eager for our next speaker because we all hope that one day we will follow that path.