Two dozen freshmen and sophomores at the Adel DeSoto Minburn High School are taking part in a course that students in only three other Iowa schools have the chance to experience this year.

It’s called biomedical engineering and it’s part of Iowa’s Project Lead the Way program.

Teacher Starla Pottorff says it’s a great course to introduce students into this field.

“It’s the first of three classes.  The one we’re taking right now is principals of biomedical sciences, which is why we offer it to freshmen and sophomores because we’re hoping that they take the next two classes that go along with it.  So they have the opportunity to take three different classes in the health sciences, so it’s really a lot of fun and it’s really interesting” says Pottorff.

Sophomore student Zach Johnston says he’s hoping this class will be the start of a career in the medical industry.

“I’m interested in the biomedical field and it shows a lot of career opportunities and it’s a lot of hands on work so I like that” says Johnston.  “I’ve been told there’s going to be a lot more job opportunities later on in this field so I think it’s good to get into them and there’s a lot of higher paying jobs in this field so I think that’s good to know about.”

Fellow sophomore Molly Jacobson says she’s glad ADM offers this unique opportunity.

“I think it’s unique how us students get the chance to see if we like this career because if you take it and you really like it, hopefully you’ll pursue a career in that because I had never really heard much about this career until this class and I’m really liking it” says Jacobson.

Governor Terry Branstad and Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds visited ADM to talk with the students about the class and find out more about what they’ve been learning.

Jacobson said the Governor told her biomedical career opportunities are expected to grow in the future and starting early with classes like this could put them ahead of others entering this field.

Pottorff says there was a lot of interest in the course and they couldn’t accept everyone who wanted to take it so she’s hoping to be able to offer more than one section next year.

We’ll have more on this class on Monday’s Let’s Talk Dallas County.