February 6, 2025
Celia Mann | Social Media Editor
For those aspiring to enter the medical field post high school, San Clemente offers unique opportunities for hands-on experience and learning. The Cadaver Lab field trip to the Southern California University of Health Sciences, taken by the honors anatomy classes at SCHS, is just this: an opportunity to apply what they have learned in class on a real life specimen, gaining physical experience that not only advances their knowledge even further, but is an opportunity that not many students receive. Furthermore, participation in this day trip gives students applying to colleges a leg up, as it sets them apart from the plethora of other applicants.
This field trip entails a bus ride up to SCU (which is located in Whittier, just north of Anaheim), costing just $40, where students will rotate through two different activities once in the lab. The first, a review of the anatomy of the body on a syndaver (synthetic cadaver), with a brief lesson on how each system of the body flows together and a chance to examine real human bones. The second station, however, is what every student attending is waiting for: a chance to inspect a real human cadaver, including holding the different organs and pieces of the body.
Junior Quincy Connors, an attendee of the field trip, explained, “It was super cool to see all the things we had been learning about in class and get to experience that hands-on learning.” While it’s one thing to study the anatomy and physiology of the human body in class, a whole other world is opened up with a real life specimen sitting in front of students. Not only do students receive an interactive experience where their knowledge expands, but moreover learn to apply what they have learned in the classroom into a real world scenario, connecting ideas and building imperative life skills.
Not only this, but an experience such as this can solidify career options for aspiring high school students as it can spark an interest in a certain field of study. Another attendant of the lab, fellow junior Catherine Golles recounted that “It was a neat experience that encouraged [her] to pursue health care in the future.”
To some, this field trip is seen as stomach-churning, out of the ordinary, and even disturbing. But for those aspiring to one day become the next generation of doctors, nurses, surgeons, or other medical professionals, this could be the chance of a lifetime. Gaining hands-on experience with a body while in high school is a unique and privileged opportunity that each of these students should take advantage of.
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