RBR Senior Sarah Haddow of Little Silver recently graduated from the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson “Mini Medical School” program, held at Neptune High School.  

Press release from Red Bank Regional High School

At the age of seventeen, Little Silver resident and Red Bank Regional High School senior Sarah Haddow had already decided that wanted to become a pediatric nurse. Through her experiences with little children, she had discovered that she loved to help them when they were not feeling well, and most enjoyed making them smile.

The energetic dancer, cheerleader, peer-leader and honor student had already explored this career path through a number of different avenues, beginning with her junior-year participation in a co-operative health occupation program with the Monmouth County Vocational School. At RBR, she became Vice President of her Health Occupation Students of America Club (HOSA), training in CPR and first aid, and taking second place at a regional HOSA competition. During the weekends, she volunteered at Riverview Medical Center.

On November 12, Sarah reached another milestone when she graduated from the “Mini Medical School” program sponsored by Rutgers Robert Woods Johnson Medical School.

Presented over the course of six weeks at Neptune High School, the Wednesday evening program was developed for Monmouth and Ocean County students to better understand issues involved in occupations in medicine.  Students attended lecture hall programs featuring such topics as trauma care, sudden cardiac death, concussions, lung cancer, pregnancy and the exploration of different careers in medicine. Time was also allowed to visit the Jersey Shore Medical Center. where Sarah toured the pediatric wing and saw first-hand how important the nursing staff is to the medical community.

Following her high school graduation, Sarah intends to attend the nursing program at Brookdale Community College, and to sign a contract with Jersey Shore Medical Center, whereby the hospital will fund her last two years of college to attain her bachelor’s degree, in exchange for a commitment to work at the Monmouth County hospital — an opportunity she learned about through the Mini Medical School program.

“Helping to make people, especially children, well is the best reward I could ever have,” she explains.