Kenwood Academy High School program preparing Chicago students for medical school

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A Chicago high school is preparing students for medical school.

The program aims to reduce disparities in the medical field and medical outcomes.

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A group of teenage students at Kenwood Academy High School want to be doctors.

"When my mom was pregnant with my sister, I was just fascinated," Kenwood junior Kennedi Price said. "I just wanted to do medicine."

"I feel like psychiatry really spoke to me, because I've always wanted to be like I can help these people," Kenwood junior Jaylee Nelson said.

Their parents may not have been physicians, and they hope to make a change about who is treating patients.

"I want that feeling of connection I don't just want to go to the doctor to go to the doctor I want to feel like someone is there listening to what I have to say and experiencing what I'm experiencing," Kenwood junior Vanessa Owusu-Ansah said.

The Kenwood Academy High School students are part of the MedCEEP program, which stands for "Medical Careers Exposure and Emergency Preparedness."

Kenwood teacher Oliver Speller and UChicago Emergency Medicine Physician Dr. Abdullah Pratt started the after school program at Kenwood to help the students truly succeed through the challenges of college and beyond.

"These barriers hit them before high school, before college, and that if you want to make change you have to fight those exact same barriers tooth and nail to help these young leaders get to where they need to be," Dr. Pratt said.

"It hurts my heart if they feel overwhelmed so we practice study techniques for the next level," Speller said. "We are trying to find all the ways to properly prepare them."

According to the US. Census, 5.2% of physicians and surgeons are African American, and only 2.7% of them are African-American women

"It's necessary, we need it our communities are underserved when it comes to medical," Speller said.

"We fight the health inequities that statically come from lack of providers by exposing these youth to all the medical fields that exist," Dr. Pratt said.

MedCEEP started at Kenwood a year and half ago with about 15 students. Most recently, 100 students applied for the program.

Mr. Speller and Dr. Pratt hope more high schools will consider offering such a program.