Call her "Hurricane Roz"
Catching up with Rosalind Strickland of the Cleveland Clinic

A perfect storm is when certain essential ingredients to produce an extraordinary event all happen to be in the same place at the same time. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a destructive event. Such is the case with Rosalind G. Strickland, Senior Director of the Office of Civic Education Initiatives at the Cleveland Clinic. That’s a supremely imposing title for a friendly, outgoing woman who radiates cheer and helpfulness. And a great deal of pride in the accomplishments of those who fall under her guiding hands.

Currently, she’s basking in the glow created by 17-year-old Kaleigh Eichel of Strongsville, who won a top prize in the very recent Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, held in Atlanta. For teaching goldfish how to herd their mates to the food court, Kaleigh won an $8,000 scholarship, a laptop and a trip to this year’s Nobel Prize ceremony in Sweden.

But Kaleigh, Creative Learning Intern, is only one of Roz’s shining stars. Another 17-year-old, Alex Chaitoff of Solon, Science Intern, just presented his research poster at the International World Congress of Cardiology in Buenos Aires.

Of course, what would you expect from a woman who leads a new program to teach second graders about science and health?

This batch of youngsters (actually several batches from area schools—9 in Cleveland and 2 in Akron) were treated to a 7-week curriculum, in their schools, which included creative writing, music, health as a career, and incorporating healthy habits into daily life. At the end of the Spotlight on Learning^TM program, the kids wrote a play about what they’d learned and/or observed, then produced and performed it in their schools for their peers and parents. Performances will be held at the Beck Center in Lakewood, Cleveland Play House and Weathervane Playhouse in Akron. What were you doing in second grade?

So how did Rosalind Strickland get to this place at this time? She was born in Florida to an Air Force family. From Florida, she went to Colorado, and eventually to Cleveland, where she graduated from Glenville High. Her Mom was a nurse, which greatly appealed to Roz, so she enrolled at Capital University here in Cleveland, studying nursing. It wasn’t very long into her studies before she decided she’d much rather be in the administration end of things, so she switched to Health Care Administration.

She readily says the most important thing she learned was ‘the process’. “Looking for shortcuts isn’t always to anyone’s benefit,” she says with a smile. She was hired by the Cleveland Clinic as a medical secretary, and stayed in that position for a few years, until an opening appeared in Hematology and Medical Oncology and then, Primary Health Care, where one of her duties was getting the new Emergency Department up and running. Shortly thereafter, a new department was formed—Community Relations. She’d found her niche—combining her love for education, people and health care, all in one position. Roz was the director there for eleven years, and the next big change occurred.

In 2005, when Dr. Cosgrove became head of the Clinic, he asked her to start a new entity: Civic Education. A healthier community benefits everyone, and this is the major aim of the Cleveland Clinic, in all its many endeavors. Ahah! Now, Ms. Strickland gets to do exactly what she most loves to do. Her work is to increase and improve education in grades K through twelve—throughout the region inhabited by the Cleveland Clinic. That’s a rather far-reaching initiative for a far-reaching area.

One of her first developments was a summer internship for science-minded high school students. “It’s important for these students to get the necessary information at warp speed!” she says with intensity. “By the time they’re ready for college, they have to be truly super-informed. They have so many choices, and in order to follow the educational path they’ve chosen, they need to be sure of all the requirements to follow that path. We help them assimilate all this information, and make sure they get it in a way they can understand and use it to their best advantage.” She shakes her head, almost sadly. “By the time they reach middle school, it’s almost too late.”

That first year—2005—the interns competed for positions; they were interviewed as though for a real place in the workforce, and those chosen were then paired with a researcher already present in the system. Furthermore, the interns were paid for the privilege. “It was intense,” Strickland says with a chuckle. “But the payback—that was beyond anything we’d anticipated.”

For some of the programs, the researchers/instructors go to the classroom. For others, distance learning is utilized with a wide variety of new media for assistance. Others come to one of the facilities of the Clinic campus. Currently all nine hospitals and fourteen Family Health Centers are involved with the project; covering roughly all of Northeast Ohio from the midtown main campus to Wooster. This year’s class includes 163 students who have reached the minimum age of 16. Their fields of interest vary from nursing, pharmacology, radiology, respiratory therapy and medical laboratory technician to the creative arts, and how they blend with medicine. Although the main occupation represented is Health Care, the internships bridge classroom learning relative to math, science, health, wellness, arts and innovation.

This latter group is part of the Creative Learning internships which incorporates media production—the students actually create, write and produce a talk-show based on the interns’ research projects. Titled myRESEARCH^TM^ Illuminated, previous episodes may be seen here.

The visual arts are also represented in several ways: Each intern produces a research poster which is presented to science and art classes at his or her own school, as well as other venues. The artwork created is then judged by an esteemed panel of art educators, media professionals and scientific researchers. Finally, all the artwork is displayed for eight weeks at the Intercontinental Hotel on the Clinic campus. Medical Illustration is an important career field, unknown to many potential candidates, but which enables them to combine their love for science with a real talent for art. Some MIs work with book or magazine publishers, others help to create surgical training aids.

Literary eXpressions^TM^ incorporates writing—prose, poetry, playwriting—into the mix. Interns combine original research with writing of whatever variety. “They expand their horizons in an interdisciplinary way, with peer to peer interaction, and taking the summer experience to an even broader scope.”

The Office received approximately 500 applications from students in the 13 eligible counties. Of these, 165 or so students have been selected for these intensive, (no vacations, either!) nine week programs. The payoff is terrific—for both the students and the program. “In our first three years, we’ve had six students published in major peer-reviewed journals, and six accepted to present their work at a national conference,” Ms. Strickland beams with pride.

The work students do for their presentations is the same as that required of medical residents. Some of the interns have taken their posters on college visits, and received immediate acceptance. On the spot. One student was awarded a 4-year, $100,000. scholarship. His only financial responsibility will be the books he needs for classes.

The level of research required for such a project—which must meet both Ohio and US standards to qualify—is equivalent to junior year of college courses. Needless to say, many of the interns earn college credit in this way while still in high school.

The young interns learn from the ground up. They are assigned to a mentor who follows their every step, as they not only learn about the equipment used in their discipline, but also how to care for it. They learn the indications for various treatments, the same as a medical assistant. Nurses of the Future actually work on the floor beside their RN mentor. The medical lab technologists learn how to operate the centrifuge for comparative analysis, as well as specimen collection and labeling.

Interns can instruct patients in how to prepare for tests, for example, diabetes education. They’ll do many of the same tasks as medical assistants, under the close supervision of the medical professional in charge of the team. In research, such teams usually include a resident assistant, graduate assistant, possibly a post-doc, and the MD/PhD. The intern is made to feel a valued member of the team, and may offer opinions or ask questions as they occur.

At this level, they learn why biology matters. It is matched entirely to their interests, which encourages them to learn even more. 30% of the interns are from the city of Cleveland, although the office is striving for a higher representation. The requirements are extremely rigorous: 3.5 plus grade point; an obvious interest in science, attested to by letter of recommendation from the science teacher, guidance counselor and parent; not more than 4 to 5 excused absences during the school year; community service, and optional participation in a science fair or a science portfolio.

New this year is the MD Project, for students seriously considering the field of medicine as a profession, in which ten Saturdays are devoted to specific courses. Sponsored by the Office of Diversity, and aimed toward increasing minority participation, again 30% of these thirty students are from Cleveland, six from the Cleveland School of Science and Medicine, a magnet school that is part of the Cleveland Public School System.

The interview for the internship is professional to the nth degree: a student’s presentation is as important as how they’re dressed, and how they present themselves. “It’s a panel interview,” explains Ms. Strickland. “This way we can easily see who’s serious and who isn’t, and how well they interview, which is an important part of the regimen. Parents are involved as well, so that everyone understands this is not just a summer job. It is a learning experience for which the intern is being paid.” With a smile, she adds, “They learn to live by rules and regulations and dress codes, not to mention the inevitability of punching a time clock every day, and just generally being accountable.”

The selection process is so careful that only 4 students have been excused during the three years the program has been operating. That’s perhaps 1% of the total enrollment to date. “Our mentors are so nurturing,” she adds. “Mentors don’t always relate well to non-adults, but ours have been excellent in that regard.” Interns may apply for a second term, and can try a different area if they so desire. Some of them then become ‘peer mentors’ providing additional education to both members of the team. And even after graduation, while attending college, a few have come back for one more try. Generally, the acceptance ratio is 55% are girls, 45% boys. In an effort to increase participation among males, especially minority youth, new outreach ventures are being made to local churches, fraternities, youth programs, libraries and the NAACP.

The achievements of these students are mind-boggling, to say the least. In this year’s Senior Standouts as recognized by the Plain Dealer, 15 students (6% of the total) were interns in the Clinic program of 2007. Of the 100 students from across the country selected for admission to NEOUCOM (the medical school in Rootstown), 5% of them were CCF interns. To date, the 2006 & 2007 classes have earned more than 7.5 million dollars in college scholarships!

As a result of all this hands-on learning—it’s not just shadowing or following the leader around and watching—two of the 17-year-old graduates of previous years passed the state boards to work as a licensed STNA or EMT. These students will be able to find work to help with school expenses, should it become necessary.

Wednesday each week is a ‘Day of Learning’ with specific topics on the agenda. It might be ‘BioMedical Research’ or ‘How to Get to Med School’ or ‘Making Your Poster Board’ or any of several other topics, including new disciplines or their integration into a larger program; networking, or even socialization with inter- and intra-district friends. After all, at the end of the 9 week course, they then have to figure out ‘How do I explain to others just what I did here?’

It works, because the students present to school boards, mayors, libraries and community advisory groups in addition to their own schools. “Education is providing opportunity. We’re strengthening the educational system, investing in our future, investing in the next generation of Health Care Providers. How can we best help students find careers? In this visual world we live in, we have to provide 21^st Century skillsets,” she continues. “They need to learn analytical and technical skills. Inter-disciplinary goes beyond texting. Arts and innovation are important. Our CEO has 18 patents!”

Does all this really work? I mean, really?

Well, Health Expressions^TM^ is another program for K-8 grades to engage students in the study of health and wellness. Students produced visual art based on a health presentation by a Cleveland Clinic medical professional which is on display at the Great Lakes Science Center. Best in show was won by a second grade student! I rest my case.

On Monday, June 2, this year’s Internship program kicks off at the InterContinental Hotel on the Clinic Campus. The earlier part of the event is the orientation for incoming students, their parents and mentors. It will then be open to the public after 3:30PM, and there is no admission charge. For more information, call 445-6600.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz artswriterATroadrunner.com

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