By Lori BODNAR   

Crescenta Valley High School (CVHS) students learned about different career paths in the science field and gained advice from presenters at the virtual Health Career Night hosted by the Academy of Science and Medicine. Academy advisor Orenda Tuason and Academy administrators Alamelu Arunachalam and Lisa Pang hosted the event.

There were 19 Health Career Night presenters including 10 who were CVHS alumni. These included Drexel College of Medicine medical student and previous Falcon Award winner Kristen Ampig, Western University of Public Health pharmacy student Dia Cabrera, Azusa Pacific University nursing student Jeong-A Cha, Pacific Oral and maxillofacial surgeon Dr. Armond Kotikian (MD/DDS), and California Dept. of Public Health epidemiologist Esther Lim (MPH). Other CVHS alumni Health Career Night presenters were Cedars Sinai Medical Center medical researcher Shaunt Mehdikhani (MS), Western University of Public Health optometry student Joshua Pe, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center clinical laboratory scientist Kevin Velarde, California State University, Dominguez Hills clinical laboratory science student Kaitlin Velarde and board certified behavioral analyst autism spectrum therapies worker James Lee (MS).

“I have experience working in behavioral health, which is what my talk focused on,” said first time presenter James Lee. “My role is overseeing interventions for children with autism and making sure the interventions are effective and help with their functioning.”

Lee was in the Academy of Science and Medicine from 2009 to 2011. He said it was a great way to introduce people to different health careers.

“I want to give some awareness about what applied behavioral analysis is and give students some guidance to take on that path,” he said. “My advice for the students is that if you are not sure what you want to do, take the first two years in college to seek advice from academic advisors and other people who attended the college. Take some time to see what you really want to do and go for it.”

The Health Career Night was a virtual event, allowing for professionals to take part from across the country.

Additional Health Career Night presenters included clinical laboratory specialists, a pain management coordinator, and an optometrist among others.

Dia Cabrera, another presenter, is with the Western University of Public Health.

“I am a student pharmacist. I am a CVHS alumna and was in the Academy,” Cabrera said. “A big part of why I am presenting at Health Career Night is Ms. Tuason. She invests so much in her students in high school and you can’t help but want to give back to her and her students.”

She added that she wants to give back to the CVHS community because the Academy gave her so much.

“One thing I emphasize is that no matter what field you go into, be very sure this is what you want and take a lot of time to figure out your why,” said Cabrera. “Why am I pursuing this field and what my purpose is because in some fields you may have a specific calling.”

This was the second time that tenth grader Sabrina Soh attended Health Career Night.

“I am really interested in the field of science and medicine,” she said. “Health Career Night is one of the best ways to find out what is out there in the science or medicine field and it is a requirement for the Academy of Science and Medicine.”

She said that she liked the personal level the presenters gave regarding their path of studying medicine. One of the first speakers was Dr. Kim Tran, a medical director at Kaiser Permanente who is a nurse.

“Dr. Tran gave descriptive explanations of what she does,” said Soh. “I learned how these practitioners decided they wanted to do this and that is something they emphasized.”

Academy of Science and Medicine junior co-president Rosalia Park said, “Starting from my freshman year, I attended Health Career Nights. I always learned a lot from these presentations. I want to help people and have that patient-doctor relationship. I like forming new relationships with people and, even though becoming a doctor is a really hard path to take, I want to take it.”

Park said that many of the presenters talked about research and getting into medical school, which could assist her in her path to becoming a doctor.

“I am not sure what kind of doctor I want to be, but I have considered the rehabilitation field to help people go back to their daily life,” Park said. “Dr. Tran talked about the steps to become a doctor and she gave helpful descriptive advice like studying for 15 years, including high school, making sure I know my limits, and being sure about what I want to do. I gained more of that positivity that I can actually pursue medicine as a career.”

Park described her responsibilities as a junior co-president of the Academy of Science and Medicine.

“One of my responsibilities as a co-president is to put the Health Career Night together. The junior co-presidents aid other officers, run weekly lunch presentations, run big events (Health Career Night, banquet, orientation), and are always there for Ms. Tuason when she needs help with something. We put together monthly socials where we help our members form bonds with each other.”

The annual Health Career Night provided students the opportunity to learn about various careers in the science field and to gain advice to help them achieve their goals.