Naval Hospital (NH) Jacksonville hosted its annual Science, Service, Medicine and Mentoring (S2M2) internship at the hospital June 11-15 with 13 high school students from Darnell-Cookman School of the Medical Arts.

"S2M2 helps us grow the next generation of health care professionals," said Capt. Matthew Case, NH Jacksonville, commanding officer. "And it allows students the opportunity to witness Navy Medicine first-hand, where we get to care for the most deserving patients in the world."

The goal of NH Jacksonville's S2M2 program is to nurture high school students' commitment to science and medicine in a welcoming and intellectually stimulating environment. The S2M2 partnership with Darnell-Cookman complements the school's focus on equipping high-performing students with the skills to pursue advanced medical degrees.

"My S2M2 internship this week has been eye-opening," said Ricardo Stewart, a rising 12th grader. "The hands-on experiences with the doctors, nurses and corpsmen helped me learn from the experts and narrow down my decision to be a cardiologist. It was an honor to witness the harmony and precision as the physicians and surgical team worked together to perform an actual knee-replacement on a patient."

In addition to clinical rotations through the operating suites, outpatient clinics, and inpatient units, students participated in hospital corpsman skills training and Trauma Combat Casualty Care's obstacle course. They witnessed how Navy first responders conduct combat trauma care. Students also performed medical procedures on life-like mannequins in the hospital's simulation laboratory, and performed orthopedic procedures on artificial bone and joints.

S2M2 was developed in 2004 by the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, and launched in 2010 at NH Jacksonville. It includes two activities each academic year: a kick-off event in the fall at Darnell-Cookman for about 80 ninth and tenth graders, and a week-long immersion program the next summer at NH Jacksonville for a select group.

To date, the hospital has hosted 72 Darnell-Cookman students at its summer internship, and looks forward to working with future students.

Naval Hospital Jacksonville's priority, since its founding in 1941, is to heal the nation's heroes and their families. The command is the Navy's third largest medical treatment facility, comprised of a hospital and five branch health clinics across Florida and Georgia. Of its patient population (163,000 active and retired sailors, soldiers, Marines, airmen, guardsmen, and their families), about 84,000 are enrolled with a primary care manager and Medical Home Port team at one of its facilities. To find out more or download the command's mobile app, visit www.med.navy.mil/sites/navalhospitaljax.

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