College: Michigan State University

Major: Biochemistry

Most high school students take six or seven classes, but Melina Fioretti, senior, is only enrolled in three. She starts her day at KHS and ends it at SSM Health St. Clare Hospital. 

Fioretti is part of the STL CAPS program, where students spend half of the school day observing and learning more about a particular profession. She is in the medicine and healthcare track where she shadows doctors. 

She also takes classes at the hospital where she learns about anatomy, diagnostics and the healthcare field, in general. Fioretti said the CAPS program has helped her decide her major: biochemistry. 

“[Participating in CAPS] has helped me gear my college path in the way I want it to go,” Fioretti said. “It’s really valuable to know what you want to do when you go to college because that eliminates you having to take classes that are general.”

Fioretti plans to use her biochemistry degree to attend a physician’s assistant school. Her experiences while shadowing medical professionals have helped her decide on a career path. 

“Seeing the different departments in the hospital has been valuable,” she said. “I’m interested in being a physician’s assistant because I can easily switch between specialties [without getting] burnt out.”

Fioretti participates in the medicine and healthcare CAPS program with two other KHS seniors, Presley Lindeval and Luca Lane. Both have noticed Fioretti’s strengths in the medical field.

“Melina is really smart and seems confident when giving presentations,” Lane said. He also added that professionalism is another asset of Fioretti’s.

While at CAPS, students also learn how to conduct themselves professionally. Lindeval has seen how Fioretti can succeed in medicine.

“She’s really hardworking and determined,” Lindeval said. “[It’s] a good quality [to have] if you are planning to go into healthcare.”

Through CAPS Fioretti has been able to watch nurses and doctors treat patients. She has seen many operations, but one she saw was especially personal to her. 

“[I was] able to scrub in on an ankle surgery that I’ve had myself,” Fioretti said. “It was amazing to see what they did inside my ankle from a different perspective.”