Darnell Cookman, SOMA, is a distinctive developing high school catered to young adults looking toward a future in health care. Across the street from the Shands Jacksonville, the hospital is uniquely positioned to be an educational partner to expose these children to the medical world significantly earlier than the norm. An after-school program is emerging where high school students come monthly and rotate through areas of the hospital representing a spectrum of medical fields (ICU nursing, radiology, blood bank / laboratory medicine, trauma center (TC), anesthesia, respiratory therapy, poison control and psychology). Introduction Materials and Methods Results Conclusions & Discussion Turning Point: Rethinking Violence: Evaluation Of Program Efficacy In Reducing Adolescent Violent Crime Recidivism Turning Point: Rethinking Violence: Evaluation Of Pre-Pre medical Education A Garcia MD*, M A Schinco MD*, AD Tenbroeck ¥, SD Richardson ¥. *Department of Surgery, University of Florida, Jacksonville. ¥ Darnell Cookman School of the Medical Arts, Jacksonville. Each student filled out a pre and post-program questionnaire. Following completion of the program, the students will participate in a poster competition. Twenty seven ninth grade students, chosen by their faculty liaison based on scholarly achievement, completed the UF HIPPA training and received consent from their parents to participate. How did you first hear about the project? Why did you want to be involved with the project? How did How did you first hear about the project? Overall, students maintained a “B” grade average, with equal # of students whose grades improved as went down. PRE-PROGRAM QUESTIONAIRE 1.How did you get interested in the program? 70% influenced by their teacher to participate 2.Why did you want to be involved with the program? 63% because of their interest in medicine 19% to learn new things 15 % motivated by some aspect of the future 3.What do you hope to gain? A better understanding of medicine (49%) Specific didactic learning (18%) Practical hands-on experience (13%) Developing people skills (12% 4.What are your specific goals? 70% plan to become a physician (surgery 32% & pediatrics 16%) Non-physician interests include psychology, pharmacy, veterinary medicine, social work, nursing and medical law 5.Which rotation(s) most interest you? TC & nursing tied for most popular (41%) 6.What other areas of the hospital interest you? Morgue and neonatal / pediatric areas Early introduction to interested students to the hospital environment is a potentially inspiring and educational process. Additionally, programs such as this can be beneficial to the medical field as these young people will be the future of health care and will be the stimulus for all the new ideas. This nascent program will hopefully grow and develop into a more rigorous and didactic program exposing the students even more deeply into science and the clinical world of medicine. Results POST-PROGRAM QUESTIONAIRE 1.Has this program helped with future goals? 96% felt it had a positive impact mostly with regard to exposing them to the realities of medicine. 2.Did this program increase interest in medicine? A resounding yes by 100%. 3.What did you learn? 3 main themes: specific didactic departmental topics; the empathy that is present in patient care & the commitment and long hours it takes. 3.Which rotation were most educational? Fun? TC & nursing tied for most educational (35%); anesthesia and blood banking (19%) in second. TC (77%) was the most fun! 3.Suggestions for the future? The most common were increased variety of rotations & more hands on experience.