THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, June 5, 1996 TAG: 9606040121
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 05 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LINDA McNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ISLE OF WIGHT LENGTH: 66 lines
Kari Miller was in the second or third grade when she became her mother's assistant on weekend health-care calls.
Her mother, Peggy Miller, is a nurse supervisor with the Isle of Wight Health Department.
At the time, Miller thought she might be interested in someday being a veterinarian.
``My mom used to make home visits on the weekends,'' said Miller, who will be a senior next fall at Smithfield High School. ``I'd help her get all of her stuff together to visit the patients' houses. My mom taught me what all of the supplies in her bag were, and I'd sit in the car while she was in one house and get everything ready for the next patient.''
Miller realized on those weekend jaunts that her mother was helping people. And somehow, she said, her interest in medicine turned toward humans rather than animals.
Having known since those early experiences that she wants to be a doctor, Miller this summer will have an opportunity to ``play doctor'' again. This time, the experience is likely to be a little more in depth.
The 17-year-old honor student is among three Isle of Wight County students selected for a Summer Residential Governor's School for the Gifted program.
From June 23 to Aug. 2, she'll live on campus at the Medical College of Virginia and work with general practitioner Dr. Michele Whitehurst-Cook. The MCV program is the only mentorship program of its kind, open to high school students, in the nation.
``The program is meant to give us first-hand experience about what a doctor's life is really like,'' Miller said. At orientation in Richmond on May 21, students met their mentors and got to tour the worksite.
``One day, we'll work up front with the clerical staff and nurses, answering phones, working with computers,'' she said. ``The next day, we'll be back with the doctor, checking vital signs, glucose tolerance levels, that kind of thing. It will really be hands on.''
Miller is one of 30 students across the state selected for the MCV program. It will be one more plus on her application next year to The College of William and Mary and eventually to medical school, she said.
Miller, who also is the daughter of Robert Miller, a purchasing agent for Smithfield Foods, wouldn't be the first doctor in the family. Her sister, Shannon Miller-Pope, will graduate from Eastern Virginia Medical School in 1998. Miller-Pope is married to a medical student who will graduate the same year.
``My sister also went to William and Mary, and then she went to EVMS,'' Miller said. ``The experience this summer will give me a chance to compare the two schools. I feel I already know what EVMS is like because my sister is there. I'll be using the summer to check out MCV.''
Also involved in the summer Governor's School programs are Mandy Renee Stallings, also a rising senior at Smithfield High, and Cory Herrala, a Windsor High student.
Stallings will attend the gifted program for visual and performing arts, at the University of Richmond, June 30 through July 27. Participants have an opportunity to explore numerous aspects of a variety of art forms, from theatrical to cultural.
Herrala will attend the program for mathematics, science and technology. The program theme this year is ``Science: A Search for Meaning in Modern Life.'' The science program will be July 6 through Aug. 3 at Lynchburg College. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by LINDA McNATT
Kari Miller, a junior at Smithfield High, has been selected for the
Summer Residential Governor's School. by CNB