The event with 20 students from the Baxter Community Center will run from 6-8 p.m. at the Cook-DeVos Center for Health Sciences, 301 Michigan St. NE in Grand Rapids. GVSU students will lead tours of the building. The Baxter students are participating in a mentoring program.
The event highlights National Physician Assistant Week and the many outreach efforts by Grand Valley students and faculty. The GVSU program, established in 1995, awards a master's degree after students complete the three-year program, which includes 2,500 hours of clinical work.
GVSU physician assistant students recently won a quiz-bowl style competition, beating PA teams from four other universities. Wallace Boeve, interim program director, said the quiz bowl took place during the annual Michigan Academy of Physician Assistants' conference. This is the third time in the past six years Grand Valley has won the student competition. The quiz bowl contest consists of medically related questions with the teams buzzing in the quickest for a response.
For his efforts, one of the quiz bowl players won a scholarship from the Michigan Physician Assistant Foundation. Michael Beckley earned a bachelor's degree from Michigan State University and is halfway through the Grand Valley program. He will earn a master's degree in 2007. The $1,000 scholarship is based on a student's leadership and community service involvement.
