I sectioned a bratwurst for a German Pathologist once - he never ate bratwurst
again.  When my kids were younger, I provided their grammar schools with
sections of brains, tonsils, appendix - stuff they have heard of. They liked
it much better than looking at fly wings or human hair under the scope.
Later on I provided a high school biology class with a beautiful section of a
full term mouse embryo in utero that perfectly showed the placental and fetal
attachment of the umbilical cord, and an absorption site next to the intact
fetus. It was a beautiful slide.  (I've also showed slides of  hands and feet
from various weeks-old fetuses to demonstrate that it's more than a blob of
cells - but that's another soapbox).   My kids grew up telling their friends
that their Mom worked in the 'parts department' of the hospital - their
friends were always fascinated if they were allowed a tour of the lab.  I
agree we need to start educating kids to get interested in this field - it's
never going to go away even when we do.  There will just be more and more
under-trained people attempting to do histology.

Jackie O'Connor HT(ASCP)
Abbott Laboratories
Global Pharmaceutical Research and Development
Discovery Chemotheraputics
Abbott Park, IL
Jackie.O'Connor@abbott.com



                                                                                                               
                    "Hoye, Glenda                                                                              
                    F. (Fka              To:     Don Skaggs ,                          
                    Hood)"               histonet@pathology.swmed.edu                                          
                                     Subject:     RE: The future of Histotechs                             
                                                                                                               
                    10/23/2002                                                                                 
                    02:53 PM                                                                                   
                                                                                                               
                                                                                                               




Another of my 2-cents....
ASCP actually took out a full-page ad in the Biology Teachers journal or
magazine recently, with information about the laboratory fields certified by
ASCP as a viable option for biology-minded people.

Also, there's nothing wrong with targeting even younger audiences -- get
involved with elementary, middle and high schools for career day participation
-- you don't have to be smooth, just excited about your jobs! NSH and ASCP
have materials that you can use as hand-outs, or take some slides to show
under a scope -- maybe a section of a hot dog or a a worm for the little ones!

All this talk is great! keep it up and get us into action!
Glenda Hoye, again