Not every high school senior interns at a hospital in Vietnam, starts a medical club or grows his own tutoring business. But then Zinn Amos isn’t your ordinary teen.
Staff at Providence Catholic High School in New Lenox say this AP student from Frankfort tackles his responsibilities independently and shows an unwavering passion.
This summer, Amos spent two weeks at Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Hue, Vietnam, where he shadowed doctors in surgery, internal medicine, family medicine, dentistry, cardiology, anesthesiology, neurology, traditional medicine and pharmacy. He also got to try his hand at various procedures during this Future Doctors Abroad program for high school students.
“We got to go and interact with the patients and see how doctors interact with patients, treat them and diagnose them,” Amos said.
Amos also had the opportunity to observe a colonoscopy, laryngoscopy, root canal and childbirth.
“It was very overwhelming at first,” he said of watching a childbirth. “A lot of people there even passed out.
“For me, it was an amazing experience, it was really exciting to see something like that in person,” he said.
Dissecting the thoracic cavity of a cadaver and looking at the different femoral arteries was also fascinating to Amos.
“Some of the things I thought would overwhelm me, I was just really interested in … I didn’t get grossed out or anything like that,” he said.
At the hospital, Amos and fellow high school students learned about some of the ancient practices still used in medicine there, including cupping, breaking down lemon grass and boiling it to create essential oils, and acupuncture.
“It was actually really interesting,” Amos said. We learned how they use the yin and yang system, where different parts of the body correspond to either yin or yang and they treat them with things like massage therapy or acupuncture accordingly to keep a balance.”
Learning about the culture, meeting Vietnamese people and enjoying the food were also perks of the trip.
Even back at school, Amos’ high school days aren’t the norm. He organizes speakers for his bimonthly medical club, including medical professionals.
Somehow he also finds time to be on the math team, Scholastic Bowl team and Student Council, and help out as a student ambassador, introducing eighth graders to the school. He is also president of the National Honor Society at Provident.
Amos said he hopes to major in biomedical engineering and eventually work as an orthopedic surgeon.
“Bones, muscles, joints are the main driving force of the body,” Amos said. “It’s how our body works.”
Kyle Murphy, his guidance counselor since freshman year and now college counselor, continues to be amazed at Amos’ unrelenting drive and desire to gain experience for his future career.
Murphy also coaches basketball and has Amos on his team.
He said he had watched Amos go from a freshman who was a little unsure of himself to an outgoing leader.
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“Some students just kind of go through the motions to get there, whereas Zinn has just gone above and beyond,” said Murphy. “He has pushed himself to experience things within the medical field and get his feet into that world to kind of gain any experience and to see if this is something he wants to do.”
Rather than merely tutor kids, Amos created his own business and a website, Murphy said.
“He’s really promoting himself and doing it in a professional manner and I think that’s something that stands out in everything he does,” said Murphy. “You talk about kids doing 100% … Zinn does things 110%.”
Janice Neumann is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.