Competition gives Kansas high school students a taste of research at KU Medical Center
The annual Night at the Lab event recruits youth from all corners of the state, giving them a stage to present their work and introducing them to careers in health care research.
For three high school students from Hugoton, driving nearly seven hours to reach the University of Kansas Medical Center this week was worth it.
Olivia Salmans and sisters Kassidy and Kamryn Kirkham took questions in front of a trifold board featuring a skeleton, graphs and facts illustrating differences between men’s and women’s orthopedic injuries and recovery. They welcomed the chance to share their research into the topic with professionals at the state’s only academic medical center, which happens to be more than 400 miles from their home.
“We take advantage of whatever opportunities get awarded to us,” Kassidy said.
The students were among participants in KU Medical Center’s annual Night at the Lab competition on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024, at the Hixson Atrium in the Lied Building. The KU Area Health Education Center organizes the event, which drew 14 high school students from across the state this year.
The event’s goal is to get health care research on the radar of Kansas high school students.
“Everybody seems to know about doctors and nurses, but not everybody knows about the depth of health care careers,” said organizer Tina Garetson, health career communications coordinator for KU Area Health Education Center.
Night at the Lab aims to broaden students’ ideas about career paths available to them. The event also serves as an ice-breaker of sorts, allowing students to visit a research institution and interact with professionals in the field.
“They could do research and still affect patient outcomes, and still have an impact, but in a completely different way than what they had known,” Garetson said. “It’s not as intimidating as one might feel.”
Orthopedics was the theme of this year’s competition. Topics included hip replacements, rotator cuff injuries and concussions. The winning team, from Olathe North High School, researched transcutaneous osseointegration for amputees, or prostheses embedded in bone.
Night at the Lab is open to any Kansas high school student. Participants are assigned a broad question on the year’s theme, then develop a research-based project to address it. One winning team from each of six regions is chosen to advance to the state competition at KU Medical Center.
This year, following a precompetition open house, students formally presented their work for judging by KU Medical Center orthopedics faculty, staff and students.
Competition winners, aptly, receive beaker-shaped trophies. The state champion team is invited to present their project at the Kansas Idea Network of Biomedical Research Excellence annual symposium at KU’s Lawrence campus.
While teams must arrange their own transportation, overnight accommodations to attend the state competition in Kansas City are paid for by KU.
Night at the Lab supports KU Medical Center’s mission of reaching out to potential future health care students all over the state, Garetson said.
“We never choose just from northeast Kansas,” Garetson said. “We’re wanting to make sure that we’re encouraging rural school participation and making it accessible for rural students.”
Kassidy, a junior at Hugoton High School, is already a certified nursing assistant and wants to become a traveling nurse. Kamryn, a sophomore, hopes to work in psychology. Olivia, a junior, wants to join the U.S. Air Force and work in nursing or audiology.
The students said Night at the Lab provided a boost toward those goals.
“Being a part of something bigger,” Olivia said. “Knowing there’s a whole community out there that wants us to be successful.”