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This summer, 30 high school students from across Maine participated in the eighth annual Health Careers Exploration Camp at the University of New England to get a three-day, hands-on, immersive lesson in the health care professions.  

Run by the Maine Area Health Education Center (AHEC), which resides in the ���˴�ƬCenter for Excellence in Public Health, the camp’s aim is to  build the health care workforce in Maine by encouraging youth to enter the health field, resulting in greater health care access in the state.  

Funded by UNE, the AHEC Program — administered through the federal Health Resources and Services Administration — and Martin’s Point Health Care, the camp is offered free to high school students who are accepted through an application process, which gives priority consideration to those from communities in Maine where there are significant health care workforce shortages. 

The high school students came to UNE’s Biddeford and Portland campuses in late June to learn about health fields such as dental hygiene, dental medicine, osteopathic medicine, nursing, occupational therapy, pharmacy, physical therapy, and physician assistant studies.  

Campers learned skills alongside faculty and students within UNE’s health professions programs and were among the first to use a new anatomy lab in the Harold and Bibby Alfond Center for the Health Sciences in Portland — the new home of UNE’s College of Osteopathic Medicine and the premier facility for integrated, interprofessional health education in northern New England — which was inaugurated on UNE’s Portland Campus for the Health Sciences in June. 

During health care simulations, students received real-time feedback from ���˴�Ƭfaculty who have experience working in health care.  

The camp housed the students on UNE’s Biddeford campus and provided meals in the Danielle N. Ripich Commons dining hall, in order to offer the 2025 cohort a glimpse into the college experience. Transportation was provided between Biddeford and Portland campuses, where students were guided by camp coordinators. 

Bethany Fortier, M.P.H, associate clinical professor in UNE's Department of Health Promotion Studies, said this type of experiential camp gives students a realistic idea of the training required to work in the health care professions and what a career in health care entails.  

The annual summer camp is just one of the Maine AHEC Network’s programs offered annually to high school students that teaches the impact interdisciplinary health care teams can have on communities where health care access is limited.  

AHEC leaders emphasize that their programs reach over 700 middle and high school students annually from Maine communities where more health care providers are necessary in order to meet the health care needs of the population.  

"This camp is about opening doors for students who may not otherwise have the chance to see themselves in health careers,” Fortier said. “By providing hands-on experiences, mentorship, and a glimpse of college life, we hope to spark curiosity, build confidence, and show high school students from underserved communities that a future in health care is possible and within their reach."