LA PLATA — Senior biomedical sciences students in Charles County Public Schools pulled on white coats and recited the Hippocratic Oath this week, borrowing a ritual that U.S. medical schools use to welcome students into the profession.
The ceremony honored seniors in the school system’s Project Lead the Way: Biomedical Sciences pathway, a four-year sequence that students apply for in the eighth grade, according to a Nov. 3 CCPS announcement. Families and school staff attended. The school system did not say which school hosted the event, how many seniors took part or the exact date beyond “earlier this week.”
Dr. Richard E. Cook, the keynote speaker, led the students through the oath. CCPS described Cook as a third-generation physician who specializes in internal medicine and women’s health.
A medical school tradition comes to high school
White coat ceremonies first appeared at colleges and universities in the early 1990s, CCPS said, and serve as a public sign of a person’s commitment to medicine. In medical schools, the coat usually comes at the start of training. For the Charles seniors, it marks the final year of a high school sequence built around the same kinds of problems clinicians face.
The pathway’s four courses, as CCPS lists them, are:
- Principles of Biomedical Science
- Human Body Systems
- Medical Interventions
- Biomedical Innovation
Students start the sequence as freshmen and finish it as seniors. Project Lead the Way is a national nonprofit curriculum used in schools across the country; the Charles school system offers its biomedical track as one of its career and technical education (CTE) pathways, alongside programs in trades, health and technology. The school system’s program page for Lackey High School is among those describing the biomedical track.
The Chronicle has previously reported on the county’s shift of CTE programs to regions, which changed where some pathways are offered.
Application window closes Nov. 13
The timing matters for younger students. The CTE application, which eighth graders use to enter the biomedical pathway and other programs, is open through Nov. 13, CCPS said. Families can find program descriptions and the application on the school system’s CTE page.
Charles County Public Schools serves 27,904 students in prekindergarten through 12th grade at 38 schools, according to the school system.
