The PrePro ProjectPreparing Tomorrow’s Professionals
EARLY PATHWAYS • GRADES 3–8 FEEDER ROADSHOW

Don't Wait Until 11th Grade to Learn How Hospitals Work

Middle and elementary schoolers don't need dry lectures about residency debt. They need tactile curiosity, mystery puzzles, and permission to play with real scientific tools. PrePro high school chapters run bi-annual roadshows down into feeder schools, demystifying 30+ medical careers years before standard tracking.

The PrePro Vertical Feeder Architecture

Grades 3–5 (Spark)

The Junior Investigators

Tangible "Body Mechanic" games. Learn how heart valves act as one-way doors with squeeze bulbs and fish tank check valves.

Grades 6–8 (Explore)

The Junior Fellows

Medical forensics & outbreak mystery. Act as Standardized Patients to practice bedside manner and history taking.

Grades 9–12 (Lead)

High School Attending Mentors

High schoolers act as attending guides - teaching younger peers while solidifying their own clinical communication skills.

Turnkey Roadshow Workshop Toolkits

Ready-to-run 30-minute modules designed for feeder elementary and middle school classrooms.

Play Browser Mini-Sims
Grades 3–5 (Spark)

The Body Mechanic: The Leaky Valve Mystery

TARGET CAREER: Cardiovascular Perfusionist & Cardiac Surgeon
DURATION: 25 Minutes
The Opening Detective Hook:"Imagine your kitchen sink pump had to squeeze 100,000 times a day without stopping once for 80 years. What happens when the one-way door gets stuck open?"
Zero-Cost Physical Supplies Needed:
  • Kitchen squeeze bulbs
  • Clear plastic fish tank check-valves ($1.50 each)
  • Colored red water
  • Small plastic tubing
Interactive Activity Steps:
  1. 1. Squeeze bulb without valve: notice water rushes both forward and backwards (the leaky heart!).
  2. 2. Snap in the one-way check valve: squeeze again - water only shoots forward into the clear tube.
  3. 3. Simulate Perfusionist takeover: clamp the heart and connect the 'bypass siphon' to keep the water flowing.
The Big Educational Reveal:

Your heart valves are tiny one-way mechanical doors! When they break, a surgeon doesn't just work alone - a Perfusionist steps in and runs a machine that takes over for your heart and lungs so the surgeon can fix the door.

Key takeaway: "A doctor is just a detective, and a perfusionist is an emergency mechanic for the human body!"

Grades 6–8 (Explore)

Patient Zero: The Summer Camp Outbreak

TARGET CAREER: Epidemiologist & Medical Laboratory Scientist
DURATION: 35 Minutes
The Opening Detective Hook:"On Day 3 of summer camp, 14 campers came down with stomach bugs. How do you find who spread it without guessing?"
Zero-Cost Physical Supplies Needed:
  • Small plastic cups with clear water (one with dilute baking soda)
  • Droppers with red cabbage juice or safe pH indicator paper
  • Camp attendance map
Interactive Activity Steps:
  1. 1. Every student gets a cup representing a camper; campers 'shake hands' by pouring liquid back and forth with 2 friends.
  2. 2. Add 2 drops of indicator liquid: if your liquid turns bright pink/green, you were infected!
  3. 3. Trace backwards along the handshake log to deduce who was Patient Zero.
The Big Educational Reveal:

Medical Laboratory Scientists and Epidemiologists use contact tracing and biochemical assays to stop outbreaks before an entire school or city gets sick.

Key takeaway: "Science isn't just memorizing definitions in a textbook - it's forensics and puzzle-solving that saves real lives."

Grades 6–8 (Explore)

Standardized Patient: The Bedside Detective

TARGET CAREER: Clinical Physician & Physician Assistant
DURATION: 30 Minutes
The Opening Detective Hook:"80% of real diagnoses don't come from expensive MRI machines - they come from listening carefully to the patient's story."
Zero-Cost Physical Supplies Needed:
  • Patient symptom prompt cards
  • Doctor diagnostic clipboard sheets
  • Timer
Interactive Activity Steps:
  1. 1. Middle schooler acts as 'Patient Leo' (complaining of tummy pain, acting cranky, not wanting to jump).
  2. 2. High schooler or fellow conducts a structured interview: 'Where does it hurt? Did it start near your belly button?'
  3. 3. The high school student deduces appendicitis without ordering a single test first!
The Big Educational Reveal:

Bedside manner is an active clinical skill: asking open-ended questions, establishing empathy, and spotting hidden clues.

Key takeaway: "Great clinicians don't just know science; they know how to connect with people."