After listening to occupational therapist Steven Boraas at the Medical Educational Development club meeting, senior Sidney Hosfield said she appreciated learning about the real world applications of courses available at Park.

“I think it is a good way for people to explore their career options especially because everyone has to take biology here so it’s cool to see how you can apply biology in your career and in your future,” Hosfield said.

According to Hosfied, Boraas spoke to Medical Educational Development (MED) club Feb. 4. According to Boraas, he spoke about his responsibilities as an occupational therapist and what it is like working in a hospital.

According to Boraas, who graduated from Park in 2010, he works at Regions Hospital in St. Paul in the trauma unit.

According to Boraas, who has been employed as an occupational therapist for around four years now, his workplace provides help to those who are recovering.

“It’s acute rehabilitation. If someone gets a neurological injury like a stroke, brain injury or spinal cord injury, they will come to our rehab unit for a few weeks of intense therapy before going home,” Boraas said.

Sophomore Maya Lee said she believes speakers like Boraas can be important resources to students who still haven’t decided on their career path.

“You get to explore different medical careers by having people with different jobs come in and talk to the club,” Lee said. “You start to know what you want to more, I guess, through like seeing what your options are.”

Boraas said after four years as an occupational therapist, he enjoys most being able to meet people and interact with them.

“Although I really like the part of my job that I get to help them be more independent and live more fulfilling lives, my favorite part is that I just get to meet people for this snapshot into their life and help them become more independent in the process,” Boraas said.

Hosfield, who attended MED club for the first time, said she found the speaker to be interesting and felt the meeting went well.

“We learned what people do when they have that career, the different kind of opportunities that you have and also the education that leads to be in that career in that field,” Hosfield said. “I actually liked it.”

According to Hosfield, she hopes future meetings have informative speakers like Boraas.

“(I hope) to get more guest speakers from the medical community so that people can see a lot of different jobs and job opportunities,” Hosfield said.