Cristo Rey Outreach

BMES volunteers had the opportunity to work with students from Cristo Rey High School two weeks in a row. A few interested students from Cristo Rey joined us at Engineering Hall for two consecutive thursday afternoons to put together arduinos by wiring the breadboard themselves, as well as explore the processing and arduino codes that accompany the heart rate monitors.

The first week, students from Cristo Rey had a lesson from Dr. Bechara on basic heart physiology and delved into what causes the PQRST wave. Then, students worked alongside BMES student volunteers to learn about the basics of arduinos, and worked through wiring them on their own.

The following week, students returned with a lot of incredibly thoughtful and challenging questions. After working through these questions, students paired up again, this time with a different BMES student, and attached electrodes to themselves and the heart monitors, and saw how their resting heart rate looked, as well as how it looked after running up and down the stairs a couple times. Finally, students had the opportunity to manipulate the processing code and see what happened as a result of their changes.

As always, BMES students found the experience incredibly enriching, and enjoyed working alongside these bright and incredible students from Cristo Rey. The relationships we are able to build with students in just a few short hours are irreplaceable, and we are so grateful for the time these students put in. We were impressed by their efforts and look forward to seeing their passion change the world in the future.