Ithaca College PAs Take on Service Week

By Danica Fisher ’05, October 12, 2021

Providing learning opportunities to high school students.

PA learners Emily Simon, Jordan Beckley and Tynesha Taylor hosting a booth at AppleFest to provide information about the PA program in conjunction with Project Access. (Photo Credit: Natalie Daffinee)

The first class of Ithaca College’s Physician Assistant (PA) Program started a chapter on campus of the American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA). As part of this, the cohort has begun work in conjunction with the Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA) on an initiative called Project Access, which aims to encourage high school students from underrepresented minoritized groups to consider the PA profession as a career.

The AAPA’s National PA Week ran through Oct. 6 – 12 where IC’s PA learners dedicated themselves to service to the community. During that time, the class decided to host a table at Apple Fest as well as create a presentation for students from Ithaca High School.

“The goal is to diversify the profession and reach out to those kids who otherwise wouldn't have the chance to hear about this or wouldn't have the chance to get connected with these important resources,” said Christina Minenna ’23, president of the IC AAPA student chapter.

At Apple Fest, the PA students hosted a table on the Commons to provide information about the program in conjunction with PAEA and Project Access, to promote their upcoming presentation to high school students on Oct. 6, and to talk about their new facility located on the Commons.

“Our primary goal is to drive home the idea that there are plenty of opportunities in the community for people of every race to become part of the medical field, especially as this program provides a vehicle to get people to where they need to be in terms of being competitive in their effort to apply to PA schools throughout the nation.”

Bryon Campbell ’23

Minenna and four other PA students worked on Project Access programming for service week, including the presentation, when nearly two dozen PA students spoke to a handful of high school students.

“Our primary goal is to drive home the idea that there are plenty of opportunities in the community for people of every race to become part of the medical field, especially as this program provides a vehicle to get people to where they need to be in terms of being competitive in their effort to apply to PA schools throughout the nation,” said PA student Bryon Campbell ’23 during the presentation. “The goals of Project Access are aimed at improving accessible primary care and eliminating those health disparities that we've unfortunately come to know.”

Minenna hopes to continue to give this presentation at other schools to help additional high school students become acquainted with the profession.

“Now that we've laid the groundwork for this presentation, it can go on for cohorts after us,” said Minenna. “What I'm looking forward to is in five or 10 years I hear about how they're still doing Project Access and they're still doing the things that we set in motion.”

Minenna is also excited to be a part of the first class of the PA program at IC.

“The thing that really stood out to me with Ithaca College was its mission towards diversity and inclusion,” said Minenna. “It's a really tight knit community because as a brand new program we are figuring everything out together.”

The PA program supports IC’s strategic plan, Ithaca Forever, specifically, the goal of developing cross-sector and community partnerships that address challenging issues, optimize the use of resources and serve the public good.