Lauren Scott just finished the Mayo Career Immersion Program, a free week-long learning opportunity at the Mayo campus in Rochester.

Of the 40 juniors and seniors selected across Minnesota to attend, Scott — a senior at Fairmont High School — was the only one from Martin County and the first from Fairmont.

Her mother, Diana, had seen something about the program on the Mayo clinic website. Later, the school sent out a notice as well.

“There were only like three or four days left before the deadline so we rushed to get the application and everything else done,” Diana said.

The application required a personal essay, letters of recommendation and high school transcripts.

More than 250 students applied. Some were interviewed before 40 were selected. The program was led by instructors and deans from the Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences.

The idea behind the program is to make students aware of all the different careers in the medical field and to network with people at the nation’s No. 1 hospital. Students had the opportunity to learn about 15 to 20 different departments, including some less-well know, such as clinical neurophysiology technology and nuclear medicine.

“If you don’t want to be a doctor or a nurse, there’s a lot more available that they don’t tell you about in high school and this program showed students that,” Diana explained.

Lauren has known for a while that she would like to go into the field, so the program allowed her to survey the options. However, she does have a favorite.

“I liked radiography,” she said, noting that she is especially interested in sonography.

“That’s what I wanted to do. But then I got more into it by doing this and now I know this is what I really want to do,” Lauren said.

Throughout the program, students were able to participate in hands-on procedures. Lauren got to perform a tracheotomy on and draw blood from a dummy.

She also got the chance to see a lot of special rooms and labs that the public does not usually get to see. She viewed some of the most expensive and state-of-the-art equipment on the Mayo campus, and got to go inside the Mayo One helicopter.

Diana said this is just the third year that Mayo has offered the program, which also takes place at Mayo’s other main campuses in Arizona and Florida.

“They did an excellent job of putting the program together, keeping everything structured, keeping the parents involved. They did an impeccable job of planning this program,” Diana said.

The students were not just told about medical careers, but also received information on classes they should take to prepare. They also learned about average salaries.

Lauren has been taking PSEO classes and plans to continue during her senior year to get a jump-start on some medical courses. After graduating, she would like to attend Presentation College, and hopes to continue to work with Mayo when it comes time to do clinicals. She said Mayo in Rochester already has offered to allow her to job shadow there.

In addition to having an interest in the medical field, Lauren is involved in a variety of other activities. She has worked at Interlaken Golf Club for the past few years and is in choir, dance and on the golf team. She received the volunteer letter in community service at Fairmont High School during the 2016-2017 school year for volunteering at least 100 hours.