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When Laila Manipon’s PE teacher emailed her last spring about the Health Sciences Academy summer program at EVMS, the rising Chesapeake 10th grader was ecstatic.

“I’ve always wanted to be a surgeon when I grow up,” says Manipon, “I thought that this was it — this was the coolest thing that’s happened to me all school year.”

Manipon is one of 44 high school students from Chesapeake, Northampton and Portsmouth taking part in the two-week, tuition-free experience from July 24 to Aug. 4. Created in 2019, the program gives students an opportunity to explore diverse career paths in health professions through lectures, workshops and hands-on activities.

This is the first year students from Chesapeake Public Schools are participating, thanks in large part to a generous gift from The Beazley Foundation.

“It is a huge honor, because we get to work with all these professional doctors, and we get to use all this equipment,” Manipon says of the opportunity to interact with physicians and other healthcare professionals through group-shadowing experiences.

Students have spent time at both EVMS and �������� during the program, covering topics such as human anatomy, suturing, ultrasound, art therapy, nuclear science, dentistry, nutrition and sports medicine, nursing and public health, speech pathology and audiology.

Ty’Rell Grant, a rising sophomore from Portsmouth, says the STEM program at his school sparked his interest in healthcare and drew him to the Health Sciences Academy.

“Working with patients has always been a big thing for me,” Grant says. “I don’t really like to see people down, being sad and being hurt. I just want to make sure I help them out, and they’re in the best shape or form in their life that they can be.”

The Health Sciences Academy is made possible by the generous support of donors, including: The Beazley Foundation; the Southeast Virginia Community Foundation; The John and Harriet Malbon Family Fund of the Hampton Roads Community Foundation; PNC Bank; Kurt McCammon, MD, Devine Chair in Genitourinary Reconstructive Surgery and Professor of Urology, and Carol McCammon, MD, MPH (MPH '12), Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine; and Drs. Betty B. Bibbins, MD (MD ’82), and Paul E. Bibbins, Jr., PhD (PhD ’86).

Gratitude was a central theme among the program’s participants.

“Thank you so much for funding this opportunity for all of us,” says Gavin Ricci, a student in the Northampton County Public Schools district. “It’s really great, and it’s helping a lot of kids realize what they want to do with their future.”

To support the Health Sciences Academy, please contact EVMS Development at 757.965.8500 or visit .

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Laila Manipon, Chesapeake Public Schools

Ty'Rell Grant, Portsmouth Public Schools

Gavin Ricci, Northampton County Public Schools