KOKOMO, Ind. — Who was born in a lightning storm, was a rival to Thomas Edison, and discovered the rotating magnetic field, which led to the development of the modern MRI?
If you knew the answer was Nikola Tesla, you would be well on your way to winning the “Rad Races” at Indiana University Kokomo.
About 20 students in the Medical Imaging Technology (MIT) and radiography programs worked in teams, sprinting to find clues across campus. At each station, a faculty or staff member asked a question related to their field and then rewarded correct answers with a puzzle piece and a clue for the next stop.
Patricia Davis, clinical associate professor and MIT program coordinator, said the races were about more than testing knowledge.
“We wanted to celebrate our program and just have fun and allow them to be together,” she said.
The team of Jessica Becerril, Galveston; Renee Gunion, Kokomo; and Adhir Patel, Peru; were first across the finish line.
“It was a lot of fun,” Becerril said. “We answered questions about how the modalities got started, landmarks for our association, and facts about how the Navy uses ultrasound to see things in the ocean. It was all related to things we do in class.”
As a radiography student, Patel enjoyed the opportunity to meet his teammates, who are both in the MRI program, to ask them questions and see if that program might interest him when he completes his associate degree.
Heidi Sebastian, assistant clinical professor of radiographic sciences, and program director, said planners deliberately created teams with veteran students leading those interested in their specialty area.
“We really wanted to make connections for our students,” Sebastian said. “We didn’t get to see each other much this year. Our radiography students will be rotating through the MIT modalities this summer, to learn more about the areas they are interested in. We tried to put them in groups by their potential interest areas.”
Davis plans for the races to be an annual event.
“It will allow them to build relationships they don’t normally get to build,” she said.
Education is KEY at Indiana University Kokomo.