This Oli junior spent at week at Northwestern University learning her way around the OR.

A member of Oliverian’s Class of 2020, Indiana native Bridget Anzelc joined the Oli family in the final quarter of the 2017-2018 school year. This summer, she attended a week-long session of the National Student Leadership Conference, a camp for outstanding high school students, at Northwestern University. We caught up with Bridget to talk about her experience at the camp, her future aspirations, and how she’s been adjusting to Oli.

Q: What was the National Student Leadership Conference like?

A: I got invited to attend the conference for medicine and healthcare; I think there were about 100 kids there in the medicine group. Every day, we got to observe demonstrations of different medical techniques and go to talks. There’s a lot to do with leadership, too; it’s not just medicine.

One of my favorite activities was called the didactic box — basically, they divide you into pairs with someone you may not have talked to but who they think you’ll connect with, and you just get to talk about different questions on a sheet of paper. It was a lot of fun.

We also got to go to a hospital and see different simulations; they had mannequins that can vomit and bleed and talk, so we got to practice CPR and practice cutting their throats to put tubes in to help them breathe. We got to use ultrasounds, too, and see the difference between veins and arteries.

Q: Why did you decide to go to the NSLC?

A: I wanted to go because I think I want to become a surgeon. Before getting invited to the camp, I was thinking of becoming a vet, but now I think I want to be a surgeon.

Q: What was your favorite part of the NSLC experience?

A: The coolest thing was probably dissecting a cow’s eyeball and heart and getting to see all the parts and how they worked together. And the EMT simulation! The TAs all went into this room and created a bunch of different injuries and we had to find supplies to try to fix them. It was interesting figuring out how we would treat those injuries in real life.

Q: What was it like to live on a college campus for a week?

A: That was neat; I was glad I got to see what having a roommate was like. They set up the camp to be like what going to college is like, so we had to figure out where the cafeteria was, where all the buildings were, everything like that. It was really like going to college for a week.

Q: What has your experience been like at Oliverian?

A: I’ve only been there eight weeks, but I really like it a lot. I never thought I would like a boarding school because I love to be at home, but I got really comfortable at Oli. It’s the first time I’ve been excited to go back to school.

Q: What’s your favorite part of Oliverian so far?

A: Probably the people and the academics. The focus isn’t purely on grades, so it’s less stressful. At my old school, everything was about who was the best, the smartest, the most athletic. Oli isn’t like that. Having fewer classmates is nice, too.

Q: Do you have any new goals this year in terms of topics you want to explore?

A: I want to do well in science — I think I’ll need that to be a surgeon. I’ve also thought about studying engineering, so doing well in physics is important, too.

Another goal I have for this year at school, which isn’t academic, is just becoming more comfortable in my own skin. And one other aspect of Oliverian that I really like is how accepting it is.