NAF Medical Academy

NAF Mission Statement: "The Burbank Unified School District NAF Academy will provide an academic and technology-based program that inspires students to become respectful and successful members of a continually evolving global community. Through high-quality instruction, community service, shadowing experiences, and work experience/internships, students will graduate with the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in college, the workplace, and the world beyond. For young people on the cusp of making decisions about what their future holds, NAF connects the working world with high school experience by infusing STEM and work-based learning experiences into the curriculum to ensure students graduate and are college, career, and future ready. More than 4 out of 5 students graduate from college without a job. We work hard as educators to prepare our students for the future."

NAF Medical Academy

The NAF Medical Academy revolves around the educational journey of students who aspire to be in the medical field or have a general interest in learning about any topic related to it. Over the years, there have been several NAF-centered classes that us, students, have taken which have deepened our knowledge about various medical topics, terms, and realities. This academy offers various field trips, mock interview opportunities, and most importantly, even a specific class that allows students to have the chance to get educated about various careers involved in the field of medicine, where they are able to get a brief understanding of what career they want their future to hold for them!

Medical Careers Exploration

Medical Professions was a course that served as a route to finding interests, learning about personal preferences in the medical field, and discovering desired careers through a variety of experiences! Besides the idea of gaining knowledge, we were also able to be a part of several hands-on activities which were detrimental into how we began our road to figuring out what we might see ourselves doing in the future. Having hands on activties allowed students to retain information in memorable ways, where each activity had some kind of crucial impact on our journey in the NAF Medical Academy. During this course, I was able to learn about the proper hand washing techniques needed in the field of medicine in order to keep myself and patients safe. I continue using these handwashing steps in my daily life; besides this, we also learned how to remove medical gloves safely to not spread any germs or bacteria from the gloves anywhere they should not spread.

These examples are just two of the many activities this course was able to provide, and each one was as meaningful as the next. I was able to clearly configure a system where I could efficiently differentiate what I want to scout for in my career, and which of my strengths will be able to align with the specific job's needs. The ability to discover medical fields that I would never think to dive deeper into allowed me to realize that I am not an individual who would work well in an Emergency Room, since it would not be something that I would be passionate about, and it would cause me enough stress to not be motivated in my job. I also gained more education about my personal needs when the time comes, where I will have to make a decision that will be in my daily life for the rest of my life.

Global Health

When thinking about the field of Medicine, it is crucial to see beyond the professions and ideas that are accessible to us via social media, news outlets, etc. Global health is the specific area of study that is centered around the importance of healthcare within the entire population. This course was an outlet that allowed students to professionally gain education about the variety of aspects that do not get focused upon too much, not allowing for there to be much of a growth in interest in the study or research done in this field. Many different ideas are explored, which are important for the future of individuals in the medical field, including vulnerable populations, health status measurements, socioeconomic factors, etc. The pacing of the knowledge buildup allowed for there to be a steady understanding of the general idea of how healthcare can be improved in different parts of the world, including first, second, and third world countries.

After completing this class, I came to the realization that a country's ability to provide accessible options for one's well-being is the only way for the existence of an individual's ability to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Without sufficient options and availabities for vulnerable populations, negative factors related to health arise in most situations, causing various diseases to spread, mortality rates to increase, and a significantly higher chance of having difficult recovery stages. Global health was a course that gave me the understanding that health should not only be analyzed based on specific individuals, but it should be analyzed by viewing the demographics of the entire world, most importantly, including the vulnerable populations in those statistics, in order to get accurate analytics. In the analysis of this topic, I found that global health focuses on the obstacles many populations face, and provides realistic and factual information that reflects the deeper analyses of what we know about it!

Anatomy

Anatomy was a one-semester course, where in the first semester, we learned about the human body while conducting several projects and team activities regarding the topic of anatomy. The anatomy class was focused on learning about skin conditions, major bones, muscles, the nervous system, etc. These lessons were all divided into weeks; for example, an approximate two or three weeks would be dedicated to learning about all the important factors we need to know regarding the nervous system, and then we would move on to different topics at a similar pace. In this one semester, my class and I were able to learn about the human body precisely, and have a general understanding of how the body works altogether for us to have bodies that can move, feel, breathe, and more. The overall basis of the course was easy to follow, and it provided a professional tactic in realizing the importance of our anatomy.

Before beginning the class, I was not too familiar with all the steps that come along with getting educated in the subject of anatomy. The course unlocked the realistic view of the various parts that are involved in developing knowledge about a certain body part or system. Anatomy assisted me in understanding the proper terms and labelings of bones, muscles, organs, etc. The human body is beyond complex, and through the lessons, that complexity was slightly broken down for me; I saw the obvious functions of the human anatomy. This knowledge also transferred into my later educational gain regarding how injuries and diseases are also directly related to specific body parts; that everything in the body is connected.

Physiology

Physiology was the second semester class after anatomy, and it was fouced on the idea of how the body works and functions as one. The idea of phsyology at first was very simialr to how the anatomy class started, and there was not much of a noticibale differece. As the class went on, it was obvious that the difference was more so based on the fact that in anatomy we learned about the individual parts of the body, but in physiology, the focus is on understanding how, for example, the nervous system works as one, but also how it works with the endocrine system. Generally, the class incorporated the same topics from the anatomy course, and allowed for students to see the deeper meaning behind those lessons, finding relations within the way the body functions. The objective of the class mainly revolved around all the factors that allow our living bodies to, in other words, be able to constantly continue the process of working together.

This course assisted in my realization that the body has parts that not only work individually, but without their ability to find a "connection" with one another, the body has no way to be healthy. A healthy body arises from the signals that go around it, allowing for functions to occur. I had the ability to understand the subject in a way where it seemed like an analogical concept, where the body acts like a computer since it takes in and processes information, but it simultaneously also has to figure out how to work together in order to "work." The body also consists of several different areas, and because of physiology, I was able to retain information regarding how those parts have and continue to work as one.

Biotechnology

Biotechnology was a one-semester course where different topics in the field of medicine were explored. Our class conducted several experimental lab procedures to find the answer important biotechnology-related questions. The objective of biotechnology is to use different living factors to answer questions that allow us to understand how biological processes work. In this course, we used plant cells, saliva, and similar "items" to figure out how these things can be incorporated into future medical advancements and the overall improvement for the future. This class is centered around using accessible methods to get a firm understanding of how living things work and how they can be incorporated for the betterment of humanity.

This class taught me that you do not need special tools or tactics to answer questions that seem beyond what you are educated on. For example, we learned the process of making root beer, and it was up to us to decide what the best possible recipe is for the drink. This experiment is connected with the subject of biotechnology since we used yeast, which is considered a living ingredient. This root beer making process was a route to understand the difference ingredients that are considered "living" can make in the quality of items, whether it improves the quality or even lowers it. Overall, this course was crucial in my educational journey since I learned that careers in biotechnology carry a lot of responsibility since they deal with different factors that can have positive or negative impacts on the future of worlds' well-being and health.

Professional Ethics

Professional ethics is also a one-semester course focused on various philosophies, ethical dilemmas, personal and professional ethics, morals, values, etc. The objective of this class is to find out how ethical values should be used in both personal ways to ensure you come to a fair decision and always pick the decision that is ethically moral for not just you, but for many individuals. Also, it allowed us to see beyond our personal values, and made us see the difference professional ethics also carries when in a work setting. This class sets the crucial standards that philosophers established years back, which have continued to advance and become ideas that lead towards a life that is considered righteous and just.

I learned that my personal ethics should not come in the way of my professional ethics when I begin to work one day. At first, I was not completely sure about the difference that the two topics carry, but as the course advanced, it was obvious that your professionalism is what makes you a likeable and respected team player, and sometimes, personal ethics could come in the way of these dilemmas. The dilemmas that humans face can also be obstacles, but this class showcased that every dilemma should have time dedicated to it, and with this time, options can be created that would give the best and least harmful outcome. Lastly, I want to bring this all together by mentioning the ethical idea that when making decisions, your actions should be done in a way where the least amount of people would be harmed, and the most would benefit; this is a reflection of ethical justice!

NAFTrack Progress

This image represents the progress I have made in NAF, and it is showcased on the NAFTrack website.

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