Where creativity and science collide

EVIT Health Occupations students beefed up their science and creativity skills in the Second Annual Neuron Challenge last week. Students were challenged to create an illustration of a neuron, using all sorts of materials, from Twizzlers and Twinkies to pipe cleaners and brooms (yes, brooms).

Students had to label their neuron's muscle, dendrites, cell body, nucleus, node, myelin, and axon branch.
It was difficult to narrow down the 30-40 projects to just a handful of winner. They all looked so good (some even smelled good). Several were worthy of honorable mentions:

But a few stood out as being the most well-executed and creative:

And the Grand Prize Winner....

If you can't tell in the picture, the cell body is a plate of spaghetti, the nucleus is a meatball, the dendrites are forks ... and the guy with the chef's hat? That's the muscle. Ha!

More photos are here. Well done, students!

How 1 EVIT health student found passion, success

We tell students all the time that they can find their passion at EVIT, that they can use the skills they learn here to launch a career or pay their way through higher education as they pursue their dreams.

We know it's true. But sometimes, it helps if they hear it from one of their own -- someone who has been in their shoes, sat in their classroom and has gone on to establish a fulfilling career.

Dr. Neil Roundy came to speak to EVIT health students on Tuesday. Dr. Roundy is a neurosurgeon at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. And just 12 years ago, he was a student in EVIT's health foundations class, figuring out that he had a passion for all things "brain."

"EVIT was an eye-opener and a door-opener for me," Dr. Roundy told the health students. "It was a start to get me where I wanted to be."

Dr. Roundy went on from EVIT to further his medical education at Arizona State University and the University of Arizona. But he credits EVIT as being the place where he discovered his passion and began working toward his dream of becoming a neurosurgeon. Health instructor Gale Landau, who still teaches at EVIT, took the time to match him up with the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix so he could sit and watch surgeries as a high school student. That experience is something Dr. Roundy looks back on as being key to peaking his interest and strengthening his passion.

"You are a large step, if not a leap, ahead of other students your age," Dr. Roundy said. "The fact that you have the initiative to step forward and say, 'I'm interested in my future;' that's a huge advantage for you."

Swatting their way to victory...

The EVIT Health Foundations class held their annual, end-of-the-year Fly Swatter Tournament Championship on Wednesday.

Sharon Black and Jon Howell's classes challenged each other to the only medical terminology face-off (that I know of) that involves fly swatters. I wasn't sure what to expect when I showed up for the afternoon classes' competition, but I saw this on the white board:


And students in t-shirts made just for the challenge:


One student at a time from each class would come forward, and they would be given a medical definition. The first student to "swat" the correct definition earns a point for their team. Over the course of the year, the students have learned 350 medical terms, so this is no easy feat.

There were three rounds of intense play:


And the winner, by one point ... Mr. Howell's class! (But that's ok, because Ms. Black's morning class won by five points.)

All the students had a great time and got together for a group photo:


And then we convinced Mr. Howell and Ms. Black to join in: