The Future Medical Leaders club is more than just an extracurricular activity, it is a gateway into the vast world of health care.

With the club only being two years old, it has helped many students pinpoint what type of career in the medical field they want. One of these students is senior Ava Windisch, president of the club.

“Ever since freshman year, I wanted to be in the medical field, I just never really knew what I wanted to do,” Windisch said. “Junior year, I joined this club because my sister started it, and it was just really helpful [for] experiencing new jobs and exposing everyone to the medical field. It really helped me find out what I wanted to do, which is being an occupational therapist, so I just wanted to help people do the same thing,” Windisch said.

This club brings in guest speakers with different jobs in the field to talk about their day-to-day life as healthcare workers. The club had a few guest speakers last year, but are going to have “a lot more guest speakers in the coming year.”

“We’ve had a nurse and an occupational therapist, and we’re going to have a family medicine doctor, a physical therapist, and possibly a firefighter coming in soon,” Windisch said.

Another member who has learned a lot through this club is senior Macie Thomas, vice president of Future Medical Leaders.

“Hearing all the other professionals speak, I figured out what specific part of the healthcare field I want to be in,” Thomas said. “I thought it was helpful learning about the schooling process, how long it’s going to take, and all those details.”

Future Medical Leaders doesn’t just offer guest speeches with healthcare workers, it also provides real life experience by offering a few shadowing opportunities for club members to see the process of working in a hospital or in any other medical facility.

“We have also had more events and definitely more opportunities for students to learn more about different jobs, so I think in the future, we’re definitely going to have more and more each year,” Thomas said.

Since this club only started last year, the number of members is small, but these two seniors are hopeful for more and more attendance each year.

“From last year, our numbers have gone up significantly,” Windisch said. “For the meetings last year, I think we had at max, four people. Then our first meeting [this year], I remembered there were at least 15 kids here, a good group amount.
I’m really hoping that next year we will have underclassmen to take our positions and continue with the club because I do think we’re making a difference.”

This club can benefit students whether or not they are interested in the medical field.

“Just being a part of this club and being exposed to different jobs, it opens up pathways,” Windisch said. “If you don’t know what to do, I’d suggest coming to one meeting and getting the knowledge [about] even just one job, because it could change your view on the medical field.”

Thomas agrees with this, also acknowledging the fact that it is hard, especially in high school, to figure out what you want to do for the rest of your life.

“Having clubs like Future Medical Leaders or Future Educators Club really helps students determine what they want to do in the future,” Thomas said. “I think it’s really good to learn about different paths and different types of jobs you can get.”

Future Medical Leaders club does not have a strict policy. No matter how many meetings you did or did not go to, “everyone’s welcome, you can come no matter what.”

“Even if you have a little slight feeling that you want to be in the medical field, it’s definitely important to just look at your options,” Thomas said. “[The club] is open to everyone.”