At the conclusion of this summer\u2019s Gross Anatomical Kinesiology class \u2014 which involves dissection of human cadavers \u2014 students gathered to honor those who donated their bodies.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s really great that the students take it on themselves and they come up with something to honor the donors,\u201d said Hayley Ericksen, clinical assistant professor and class instructor along with Carlynn Alt, clinical associate professor.<\/p>\n
Six cadavers become teaching tools during the summer class for first-year athletic training and physical therapy students. In each lab session, students would focus on a different area of the body. They would spend hours searching for certain muscles, ligaments, bones and other body structures to truly understand the human form.<\/p>\n
At the end of the term, students create a ceremony to pay their respects to the donors whose bodies spent so much time teaching them. The ceremony also is a way to show gratitude to the donors\u2019 families.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the rest of our careers, we\u2019re never going to forget this experience,\u201d said student Gabe Serafin.<\/p>\n
Christine Eble and Jessica Burke collected from their fellow students the memories and the lessons learned to help brainstorm what they would say during the ceremony.<\/p>\n
The ceremony began with each student talking about what they had learned from the cadavers. The event was small and intimate, involving only the students and instructors.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity for the students to get creative and think about what they appreciated about this learning experience,\u201d Ericksen said.<\/p>\n
The ceremony featured the students splitting up a bouquet of flowers. Each student held a flower and, after sharing what they learned, placed the flower in a vase.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe flowers were all different to signal that all the cadavers were different,\u201d Serafin said.<\/p>\n
At the end of the ceremony, Serafin read out a letter to the families of the donors to thank them for their sacrifice.<\/p>\n
The ceremony was conducted for the first time last year as a way for the students to learn to respect the donors. Ericksen said that the ceremony will be a tradition from now on for the anatomy class.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really a gift we\u2019re given to actually see all these structures inside a body,\u201d Ericksen said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cadavers are a vital teaching tool in an anatomy class, allowing students to explore the mysteries of the human body. But it wouldn\u2019t happen without people who donate their bodies and the families who allow it. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40008,"featured_media":73536,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174],"tags":[249,250],"section":[135],"display_categories":[115,116],"related-coverage":[284],"uwmnews-feed":[154],"class_list":["post-73986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-community-engagement","tag-student-success","section-health","display_categories-top-story-secondary","display_categories-top-story-section","related-coverage-health-wellness","uwmnews-feed-health-sciences"],"yoast_head":"\n