Seeing hearts and lungs functioning outside of the body is not something that many people, much less high school students, get to experience, but for the BSM students who attend the Medtronic Exploring Post in Minneapolis, this uncommon opportunity is a reality. Every other Tuesday, from fall through spring, the attendees experience close-up interactions with Medtronic professionals and the technology that they use, build, or develop. Different types of engineering, chemistry, and anatomy are only some of the fields that the training post covers. Each week, new fields are explored giving students new access to careers they never considered.

Each meeting that the Medtronic Exploring Post season includes 13 planned events that cover a variety of science fields. Each week multiple Medtronic employees explain their jobs, give demonstrations, and lead students in activities that mirror real life work. By experiencing the real life application of modern technology, future medical or engineering students are not only becoming familiar with their future studies, but they are also making valuable connections with professionals who are already in their desired field.

The main focus of each night can vary from Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Software Engineering, Anatomy/Physiology, and Mechanical Engineering. Members can choose the nights they want to attend based on their interest in each field.

The opportunity to learn about prospective careers draws in students who are confident in their future, and students who are still exploring their passions. “I was questioning going into the engineering field, so I thought that by submerging myself into this environment I would be forced to push myself and see if it is a great career path for me,” junior Colby Clinton said.

The training post also offers leadership opportunities to many BSM students including Lizzie Rude and Colby Clinton. Both Rude and Clinton have the task of attending each meeting and writing reviews on the speakers featured that night. “As a coordination officer, I talk about certain aspects of the meeting like the visual aids the speakers brought in. I give them feedback telling them to tweak their speeches to be more or less like the last one,” Clinton said.

BSM has the largest representation of any school at the Exploring Post; this may be due to the emphasis we put on STEM, leadership, and new experiences.“I think that this program attracts so many BSM students because of our science and engineering departments, and it’s a great opportunity to learn if this is something we might want to do in our future,” junior Lizzie Rude said.

Participating in training posts like the one at Medtronic exposes high schoolers to careers they want to pursue, and it also helps them eliminate careers that do not excite them. “By doing the Medtronic training post I have found that I want to be an engineer, but that biomedical engineering isn’t as captivating as I thought it was,” Rude said.

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Whether or not biomedical engineering is the desired field of study for members of the Medtronic Exploring Post, by being involved in the program students learn about new technologies, growing connections, and encountering unique opportunities. “They take you on once-in-a-lifetime opportunities like the Visible Heart Lab at the University of Minnesota. Those are things that we would never be able to do if it weren’t for this program,” Clinton said.