Senior Jenna Billingsley takes part in Johns Hopkins Hospital program

By Isabella Watson

Staff Writer

You don’t need a brain to recognize that being able to experience surgery firsthand is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that Costa senior Jenna Billingsley was fortunate enough to attend.

Billingsley received an anonymous letter inviting her to take part in a program at Johns Hopkins the end of July. She received a package, which included information about the program and an award for her achievement in science.

“At first, I was surprised when I received this nomination,” Billingsley said. “However, right when the opportunity arose, I immediately knew that I wanted to partake in such a once in a lifetime experience.”

The program was focused on hands-on medical training, and included seminars and field excursions to locations such as University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center. Medical students and professors worked with the participants, in order to provide them with a baseline of medical education, Billingsley said.

Link:Check out Program at John Hopkins

“Although this program was at times difficult,” Billingsley said. “It gave me a real life simulation of what the treatment of medical students is actually like,”

Students from all over the world attended this ten-day program, and all participants were selected based off of their interest in science. 

Link: Click here to see application for internship program

“We’ve known that Jenna wanted to pursue a career in the medical field and we wanted to give her this opportunity,” Billingsley’s mother, Beverly Billingsley said. “This program allowed her to experience this potential career path first hand.”

At the end of the program, the students got to perform a patient simulation, which was held at University of Maryland Medical School.

“This was an incredible experience because of how rare the opportunity was,” said Billingsley. “Being able to do this opened my eyes to the true human to human work that is necessary when pursuing a career in the medical field.”

After she graduates from Costa in the spring, Billingsley plans to attend Indiana University to study within their Honors Biology Program. In the future, Billingsley plans to become a trauma surgeon and hopes that this experience will aid her in the future.

“I truly feel that this experience with a greater understanding of the work I will be doing in the future,” Billingsley said. “I am excited for the future and cannot wait to see what lies in the future.”