Nearly 20 eastern Iowa high school students took a closer look Wednesday at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine.

Workplace Learning Connection, a nonprofit partnership between Kirkwood Community College and the Grant Wood Area Education Agency, helped organize the visit. The “Junior Mini-Medical School” event allowed the high-school students to speak with UI Carver College of Medicine students about the college and medicine in general.

The group learned about basic anatomy and how to diagnose a patient. Students also experienced different types of research at the college.

“I had high-school teachers who took me to research labs, and I saw what research was about,” said participant Tina Tootle, a UI assistant professor in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology. “And if that hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t have gone into research … If they don’t get that initial, ‘Let’s look through a microscope and see something cool,’ then they’re not going to be interested in it.”