"When I cut someone open, I can’t tell whether someone is rich or poor, black or white, Democrat or Republican.” These were the words of Dr. Ben Carson when he spoke to the 10th grade recently.

Dr. Carson is a brain surgeon who performed the first successful separation of conjoined twins at the head. He is presently the Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins performing over 500 surgeries a year.

He spoke about his journey from the 5th grader who was failing out of school to becoming top in his class, about the importance of math and science, surgeries he has performed, and the advantages and disadvantages of a medical career. Dr. Carson also spoke about his views on society today, the problems with the obsessions with sports and lives of the right and famous.

“7 in 1 million make it to the NBA and have an average career span of 3 and a half years”, he explained. “But surgeons have an average career span of 30-40 years and make a healthy salary too.” Dr. Carson stressed the importance of the next generation studying math and science. It was a big honor to have the opportunity to hear someone like Dr. Carson speak. He has a message that is very inspiring.

Thanks to Brooke Prince for taking the initiative to book the trip and to Mrs. Austen who inspired her to do so! Thank you to Mrs. Austen, Mrs. Lerman and Mrs. Lehman for chaperoning us.

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