2019 Spark! Challenge Awards Ceremony. And the winners are…

Last week, more than 900 people including Northwell team members, faculty and 11^th and 12^th grade high school students from Long Island, Staten Island, Westchester and New York City gathered to participate in the 5^th annual Spark! Challenge Awards Ceremony.

The Spark! Challenge offers high school students a unique opportunity to join one of the 74 participating Northwell departments for a day in the fall and learn hands-on about clinical and non-clinical healthcare careers from our team members. After the students’ Spark! visit, they were asked to design a poster that represents the career they learned about. This year students learned about careers such as:

• Athletic Trainer
• Biomedical Engineer
• Clinical Laboratory Specialist
• Colorectal Surgeon
• Construction Project Manager
• Corporate Lawyer
• CRNA
• Hospital Executive Chef
• Medical Simulation Tech
• Paramedic
• Patient Experience Director
• Pharmacist
• Physician’s Assistant
• Research
• Talent Sourcing Specialist
• Ultrasound Technician
• And so much more!

During the spring Awards Ceremony, students gave a two-minute presentation to Northwell’s senior executives and answered questions on one career they learned about during their site visit. Students were also able to test out their surgical skills with the da Vinci Xi Surgical System Robot, which is used in Northwell’s operating rooms for minimally invasive surgeries, play with therapy dogs and try their hand in a life-size Operation game.

After presentations, judges deliberated and more than $30,000 in prizes were awarded to the winners for student posters and presentations. We’re proud to announce that the winners of this year’s Spark! Challenge are….

Poster Awards (picked prior to the Awards Ceremony)

• First Place:​ John F. Kennedy – Bellmore-Merrick​- Glen Cove Hospital – Operating Room ​
• Second Place: General Douglas MacArthur High School​- Corporate Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO)​
• Third Place: Valley Stream Central High School​- Orzac Center for Rehabilitation​
• Facebook Favorite Poster voted on by thousands of Northwell team members: Baldwin High School​ – LIJ Valley Stream – Operating Room
• Poster Rookie Award: Division Avenue High School​, Corporate Legal Affairs ​
• Poster Honorable Mention:​ Stella K. Abraham High School ​- North Shore University Hospital – Pharmacy
• Poster Honorable Mention​: Baldwin High School​- Corporate Risk Management ​

Presentation Winners:

Presentation Award

• Baldwin High School​- LIJ Valley Stream- Operating Room
• Tottenville High School​- Staten Island University Hospital: South Campus
• Holy Trinity High School​- Community Health
• Amityville High School ​- South Oaks Hospital
• Glen Cove High School​- Plainview Hospital: Emergency Department
• Patchogue-Medford High School​- Southside Hospital

Presentation Award- Honorable Mentions 

• Uniondale High School​- Stern Family Center for Rehabilitation
• Baldwin High School ​- Northwell Health Physician Partners: Urogynecology at Bay Shore
• Valley Stream South High School ​- Equity of Care
• Patchogue-Medford High School​ – Northwell Health Venue Development
• Massapequa High School ​- LIJ Medical Center: Emergency Department
• Bay Shore High School​- Family Medicine Department

Congratulations to all this year’s winners! To see all careers and schools that participated click here.