WFU Summer Immersion introduces high school students to college life

Sophie Jenike, a rising high school senior interested in sports medicine, practices her arthroscopic surgery technique on the pig leg model after watching Dr. Gary Poehling demonstrate an arthroscopic procedure on a knee joint.

Jenike is one of nearly 900 students from 34 states and 6 countries are getting a sneak peek at the college experience through Wake Forest’s Summer Immersion Program.

“The Wake Forest Summer Immersion Program is a hands-on learning experience. Students dive deep into a field of study with access to world-class faculty, researchers and industry professionals,” said Kyla Hollingsworth, the director of the Summer Immersion Program. “Students walk away with real world experiences that give them insight and clarity toward their future college and career goals.”

This summer, nine summer institutes – ranging in length from one to two weeks— focus on career topics such as academic discovery, medicine, law, leadership, technology, biosciences and engineering, business and entrepreneurship, sports marketing and sports medicine are offered in Charlotte and Winston-Salem.

Enrollment in the University’s Summer Immersion Program has more than tripled in the past three years.

With hands-on-workshops, experiments and tours of cutting-edge facilities, students work in labs at Wake Forest School of Medicine, tour the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, visit area businesses, and take part in a range of other activities on and off-campus. From observing surgery techniques to pitching “Shark Tank” style presentations to local business leaders to designing socks, students get to make professional connections while living on campus and learning about college life.

“We want students to learn a lot about themselves. We see those synapses firing and dots being connected,” said Donovan Livingston, who is a program manager for pre-college programs at Wake Forest.

Students also get a chance to learn more about Wake Forest and the admissions process.