Skeletons, bandages, and rolls of tape sit in the curriculum of the Sports Medicine Academy. Its long standing in Francis Lewis High School has made it a valuable resource for potential pre-med students and student athletes. So why is it going away? 

The Sports Medicine academy is designed to prepare students for academics that would be found in college-level sports medicine or anatomy and physiology coursework, which draws a majority of its students.

“When I went to visit my grandparents back in elementary school I saw that the medical things they had there weren’t as advanced,” said Catherine Li, a current senior and 3rd year Sports Medicine student. 

Li’s memories have encouraged her to become a nurse and the Sports Medicine academy’s unique curriculum proved valuable to her knowledge on human anatomy. One of a kind class activities, such as a Thanksgiving feast to teach about nutrition, kept students like Li engaged.

But Li isn’t the only one that has gained from hands-on academics. The Sports Medicine program has shown to expand beyond the classroom.

“There was this time when my friend had injured their finger and then the first thing we learned in Sports Medicine for the Injury Unit was buddy taping the fingers,” said Elva Mou, also a current senior and 3rd year Sports Medicine student. “And then that really helped them in the recovery process of their fingers and also prevented it from getting worse than it already was. So I was really grateful to have been able to learn something like that and help a friend of mine.”

With its lasting impact and large interest across grade levels, its removal seems unexpected. But it’s not really being removed. 

“The original goal was to create a program that ended with students attaining some sort of certification or credit towards college to advance them in a career in the medical field,” said Nidhi Babbar, the Assistant Principal of Science. “However, it didn’t pan out. So it’s going to be phased out and hopefully we can develop a different program that students can actually walk away with some sort of certification as we had hoped for.”

So premed at Francis Lewis High School is not being thrown out. Rather, it’s undergoing comprehensive changes to make the curriculum more cohesive. 

“There hasn’t been a strong connection between the three years, meaning of flow,” said Ms. Babbar. “It almost feels like three completely separate classes. So it does need to be more streamlined and reinvented in order to make sense for students. When you take Sports Med, there isn’t a clear connection between that and then when they go into senior year of EMT. So that alignment isn’t there. So we have to figure out a way to better align it and also to make sure kids leave with some sort of certification.”

On the topic of college credit, Sports Medicine students were excited about the introduction of a new course: AP Anatomy and Physiology. Despite being an option for students to pursue, the AP course never happened. The mysterious and abrupt closure of AP A&P was another door shut in the face of so many Francis Lewis students. 

“The College Board put it on their website and I said, ‘If they’re gonna offer it on their website as a college credited course, then we’re going to teach it,’” said Ms. Babbar. “So in the summer I was getting ready to prep, figure out a teacher, send them to training, and guess what happened? They took it off the website. So over the summer they took it away. So I had no choice but to take it off.”

Considering that the EMT course of the Sports Medicine sequence does offer a CPR First Aid certification, the academy’s remodeling seems to be removing opportunities. But Ms. Babbar ensures that these changes do the opposite. 

“We’re exploring other ways to get them some more certifications or credits towards some secondary institution so that if they really are serious about going into a career in the medical field, that they have a leg up,” said Ms. Babbar. “That’s what originally the design of the program for whatever reasons didn’t pan out. So we have to regroup and figure out how we’re gonna make it more successful for our students.”

With an emphasis on remodeling the academy to better suit the needs of students and provide college credit, this change will be giving more to students than it would seem to be taking away. So students shouldn’t put away their stethoscopes or biology flashcards. Premed at Francis Lewis is here to stay but not in the traditional way. 

“As an administrator in this school, every decision we make is in the best interest of students,” said Ms. Babbar.