The anatomy and physiology classroom at Elizabethtown College will be seeing major improvements over the summer of 2024. A cadaver laboratory will be connected to the classroom, which will greatly benefit learning opportunities for students who are studying the human body. With the addition of this lab, anatomy students have access to real-life concepts to which they can apply their knowledge of the course material.
“Research is at the heart of all the programs within Etown’s School of Sciences. Our students work side-by-side with our award-winning faculty on research projects as early as their first year on campus. Fundamental research questions are also routinely incorporated into the curriculum of our programs.” @EtownCollege said on Instagram
Etown’s School of Sciences takes their research seriously. All around Masters Center for Science, Mathematics and Engineering , research posters can be seen detailing various projects performed by students with help from their professors. Many labs are equipped with state-of-the-art technology for students to use for their studies and research. The availability of research opportunities at Etown also helps Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathmathetic (STEM) students to get internships during the time of their undergraduate studies.
Lily Eom, who is studying to become an optometrist, is looking forward to the renovation of the labs that will be done just in time for her to make use of them herself. “As an upcoming anatomy student, I’m excited for the new labs, especially since they just renovated the chemistry labs,”Eom said.
Over the summer of 2023, the three chemistry labs in Musser Hall were updated to look more modern as well as to fix some plumbing issues.
Some students have wondered why the changes to the anatomy labs are being done this summer instead of, for example, planning for an expanded housing selection to provide for the ever-increasing student body. The renovations are being partially funded by the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP).
“The [RACP] is a Commonwealth grant program administered by the Office of the Budget for the design, acquisition, and construction of a regional economic, cultural, civic, recreational, and historical improvement project.” Says the website for the RACP.
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania will provide enough funding for this project to be completed with Etown’s own budget. There are some criteria for a grant to be approved by the RACP. One of these is a project cost of at least one million dollars. The project must also clearly be beneficial to the local or regional community, which, in the case of the anatomy and physiology labs, will be majorly beneficial to students who are wanting to study the human body. Thirdly, they must have secured at least fifty percent of their funding from non-state actors. This means that most of the funding for Etown’s new project will come from the school’s budget and its donors.
Students who are studying to become physicians or aspire to continue on a different path in the medical field will get to experience the renovated anatomy and physiology laboratories when they take Human Anatomy and Physiology II, where they can get hands-on experience with cadavers.
