The focus of Jean Paul’s project was on career exposure for high school juniors and seniors at the Birmingham City Schools interested in healthcare. He conducted this project through biweekly zoom sessions covering 8 different careers (Surgery, Clinical Lab Sciences, Physician assistant, Pediatric medicine, Optometry, Dentistry, Physical Therapy, and Nursing). These sessions were live for students to join and also recorded for the teachers to use in their other classes. He also provided resources for teachers who requested other materials for the students, which resulted in reinstating a tutoring project that a previous fellow had begun. In this endeavor, Jean Paul paired families of high school students requesting tutoring with college students in order to help them with their school work.

As a result of the program:

• Tutors were recruited from UAB in order to provide 17 families with free online tutoring.
• 53 students and 4 teachers learned about one or more healthcare careers through the Career Spotlight Series

The Summer Health Professions Education Program at UAB–which consists of new college students every year who are interested in healthcare—will continue components of Jean Paul’s project, such as working with Birmingham Ed Foundation to provide tutoring for Birmingham City School students. In addition, the recordings of the Career Spotlight Series will be available for the health science academy coordinators to use for years to come.

“My time as a Schweitzer Fellow taught me the importance of serving based on the community’s needs above all else. In order to do that, it requires being adaptable and resilient to the obstacles you may encounter. This needs-based approach is something that I will carry not only into future community service, but also into my future career as a healthcare professional. I plan to first and foremost, cater to the patient’s needs in order to truly make a difference.”