Northwell Health's high school challenge 'sparks' creativity

This year, teams of students from both General Douglas MacArthur High School and Division Avenue High School participated in the 2020 Northwell Health Spark! Challenge. Participants in the challenge, which pitted high schools from all across Nassau County against each other, entailed choosing and creating a poster and presentation about one of the many career paths open to students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics-related healthcare fields.

The challenge students gave an opportunity to participate in a program that bolsters a partnership between high school students, educators and Northwell team members to shine a light on different careers. The program and its lessons have been underscored this year by the global Covid-19 pandemic.

The two high school teams focused on different areas of study. MacArthur students chose corporate biomedical services. The group created a video spotlighting biomedical engineers. They also designed a poster with some of their findings. Before producing their projects, the MacArthur students explored the critical role that individuals in the field of Corporate Biomedical Services play. Their responsibilities include maintaining and repairing medical equipment, managing the biomedical department and engaging in biomedical engineering initiatives, such as cybersecurity and asset tracking.

Division Avenue participants submitted a poster to the Spark! Challenge, which represented human resources and how it connects to Northwell Health physician partners. Students learned about the relationship between human resources partners and business leaders and how that connection leads to growing their organization.

Although neither team placed in the Spark! Challenge this year, both of their projects were featured in the Northwell Health Spark! Challenge 2020 Guidebook.