Camp 98.6

FOUR OF ST. PHILIP'S COLLEGE'S  HIGH-SPEED RADIOLOGY PROGRAM RECRUITS FOR 2018 ARE IN THE NEWS FOR GETTNG READY TO STUDY THEIR PROFESSION WITH SPC AND UNIVERSITY HEALTH SYSTEM AT CAMP 98.6

SPC radiology alumna  Denise Aguilar ensures their transition from Judson High School to St. Philip's College included a pre-professional development stop at SPC's Camp 98.6

Four alumni of a pre-professional development program that has provided one cost-free week of high-tech study for high school students each summer with both St. Philip's College and the lead Level I trauma center for all of South Texas are in the news and receiving positive evaluations for future college success from the center team.

The tenth anniversary edition of the Camp 98.6 program ran June 11-15 and began June 11-12 in the St. Philip's College Center for Health Professions building in the City's Denver Heights neighborhood. The camp concluded June 13-15 off-campus at University Health System sites.

Loretta La Point is assistant director for the University Health System Center for Learning Excellence.

"As always, it was a pleasure working with everyone at St. Philip's College... I look forward to working with you again next year!" La Pointe emailed June 27 while sharing a graphic of the Camp 98.6 Class of 2018 at University Health System.

Denise Aguilar is a first-year radiology/health science instructor at Judson Independent School District and a 2010 alumna of the radiology program at St. Philip's College. Giving back as an educator following several years of practicing radiology at local hospitals, Aguilar helped her college-ready Judson students by immersing them in the type of pre-professional development experiences she recalls seeing at the radiology school where she began her successful pathway immediately after high school.

Both the Judson students and Aguilar were the subject of the June 22 online feature story Judson students get hands-on intro to health careers by Northeast Herald  staff writer Jeff B. Flinn. According to the story, four incoming St. Philip's College radiology students in the Camp 98.6 Class of 2018 were protégés of Aguilar.

According to the report, " Aguilar brought a group of sophomores, juniors and seniors who are enrolled in Judson's health care pathways... "I had a class of seven in my radiology practicum this past year, and four of those are enrolled here at St. Philips starting in the fall," she said ."

Terri Murphy-Sanchez is the college medical lab technician instructor who led a class featuring a bevy of hands-on medical lab stations ranging from hematology and urinalysis to blood bank and parasites for the Camp 98.6 Class of 2018 that included four SPC radiology program recruits from Judson.

According to the June 22 online feature by writer Jeff B. Flinn, "Murphy-Sanchez spoke highly of the lab tech program and the benefits to students..."I think it's a terrific steppingstone to a career," she said. "Ninety percent of hospital diagnoses are done directly from lab work." "

Aguilar shared her inspiring professional journey while escorting her college-ready students and SPC radiology recruits through the hands-on camp with such faculty members as Murphy-Sanchez.

"I was a teen mom who'd never thought about college, when I had to provide for my child," Aguilar shared while glancing upward as one of her college radiology faculty members from 2009 and 2010 smiled in a sign of collegial respect. "I had a scholarship to attend St. Philip's College and I was accepted into the St. Philip's College radiography program. I went from college to work for several local hospitals. I decided on entering academia when I saw there was an opening at Judson High School," said Aguilar.

"This is my first year teaching. I'm already bringing students back to where I came from, to help my students get a better understanding of what doors they can open with the educations they can receive here," said Aguilar. "I studied health sciences at St. Philip's College during the transition from our original building to the Center for Health Professions, which is an amazing place to study my field," Aguilar said in reference to the college's $49 million Center for Health Professions that was opened in 2009.

"As a student at Jefferson High School, I was withdrawn from the school and I got my GED though the Northside (ISD) GED program. Growing up, I'd never thought about college, but at Northside GED, with my high grades and scores and having to work… they recommended the scholarship award, and it catapulted me into continuing my education at a time in my life when I had no plan," said Aguilar. "I also graduated from the UIW Health Science program---and I recently completed my alternative teacher certification. It all came together," Aguilar said with the smile of a successful SPC alumna.

While semesters of hard work await the new radiology recruits, they will always remember how Aguilar ensured their transition from Judson High School to St. Philip's College included a pre-professional development stop at Camp 98.6.

For information on the 2019 camp, contact college Health Science Division department chairs Jessica Cooper (jshaw36@alamo.edu) or Melmar Ordinario (mordinario1@alamo.edu) at 210-486-2050. (2018 Camp 98.6 graphic courtesy University Health System Center for Learning Excellence)