Medical club has generated new opportunities at Plainfield East, with hopes of inspiring students to become better learners.

Beginning last fall, medical club drew inspiration from health care related clubs at other schools and the leadership club BALC.

Senior and president of medical club Sana Khan said, “I really wanted to do a medical club… A lot of surrounding districts have a medical club, and I wanted to have that opportunity at our school.”

Although Khan had the idea as a sophomore, she had to wait until senior year.

“She wanted to start this before she graduated. And because of COVID last year, she couldn’t put that into the scheme of things,” medical club sponsor Cari Mills said.

Khan shared her ideas with Mills and asked Mills to be a sponsor.

Mills said, “She sent me her slideshow about what she was thinking about for this, and asked if, because I’m an anatomy-physiology teacher, if I could be a moderator.”

Khan included senior and the club’s vice president Ivy He in her plans.

He said, “I thought it was a great idea just to expose students to different healthcare fields and professions.”

One opportunity that medical club provides is listening to guest speakers from medical fields.

“A lot of the guest speakers have had great conversations with the kids,” said Khan 

The guest speakers are chosen based on a student survey.

He said, “They have a lot of cool stories, stories that you would not expect to have happened.”

Typically, students ask questions during or after the speaker’s presentations.

Khan said, “All of them are really just interested in knowing more… They all listened really well, and they were all asking a ton of questions.” 

Students gain knowledge from medical club whether or not medicine is not their passion.

“If a student is not going into the medical field, it’s still going to give them some information about health-care related topics,” Mills said.

Medical club is open to everybody.

Khan said, “We don’t have a super-strict schedule, but we try getting out the dates on the announcements as soon as we know them, so literally come in anytime.”

A typical meeting involves guest speakers, get-to-know-you games, and questions, Mills said.

Club members are eager to learn.

Mills said, “I’m getting new knowledge. I was pre-med, but I still like to keep learning.”

Khan said, “One of my biggest goals is for [club members] to become better speakers and more curious, so they can ask questions and collaborate with each other.”

“That’s kind of the goal of our club – to just get kids exposed and get interested,” He said.

Khan said she hopes to have more discussion-based meetings with greater interaction between the members.

As for the club’s overall goal, Mills said, “It kind of brings like-minded individuals together.”