Being able to apply what they learned over the last nine weeks, students in Health Science spent Monday and Tuesday going around the school to take vital signs of staff and students alike.

“Hopefully this got the students out of their comfort zone a little bit, because in the healthcare industry, you constantly have to take vitals on people you don’t know,” teacher Stephen Friar said. “Along with getting out of their comfort zones by talking to people they don’t know, this activity should definitely help them apply the skills they’ve been learning the last quarter and help them see a preview of what healthcare professions are like.”

The necessity of knowing the basics of healthcare is important to anyone in healthcare, according to junior Diya Mehta. 

“In class we’re learning about taking people’s vitals,” Mehta said. “Our assignment was to take six teachers’ and four students’ heart rate, blood pressure, and respiratory rate using what we knew. I hope to go into a healthcare profession in the future, so knowing these basics – taking vitals – is important for any healthcare job.”

Even though taking vital signs was the main component of the activity, there was a secondary skill being learned. 

“When you’re treating people, you have to have the right type of communication,” Dravekar said. “I hope this type of activity can help me out with that.”