Dental And Nursing Camps For Teens

(CBS)  For her Study Hall report, CBS News Correspondent Tracy Smith went to The University Of Washington's Dental Camp, where teens get a chance to try their hands at a career most would not have thought possible.

Doug Jackson's in charge: his campers make dental impressions, build crowns and use all of those cool little gadgets.

"First off, I'd like to say, 'Welcome to the school of dentistry.' My name is Dr. Jackson and I am a dentist," he says to his class.

Getting kids interested is easy: keeping them interested can be like pulling teeth.

Asked if he expects most of the campers to actually become dentists, Dr. Jackson says, "I can sure hope they will. We recognize that the wow factor is absolutely here. The real trick is how you capture and keep that sustained over the long term."

Smith also went to Fairfax, Va., where would-be nurses get a peek at their future by watching surgery.

Like dentist camp, nursing camp is a mega-dose of medical reality - blood and all - and a chance to get answers to burning questions.

"I heard that you have to use a chainsaw to get past the ribcage. Is that true?" asks one kid.

The point of both camps is to give kids a sense that nothing is closed to them.

One kid says admits the thought of being a dentist would not have crossed his mind, had he not attended the camp. "That was one thing I would never want to be," he says, "Now it's all right. Now it's in there. It's in my mind."

Dr. Jackson says the main thing he hopes kids get out of camp is, "If they work hard, stay in school and challenge themselves academically, they can do anything they want. And ideally we'd love it if they all thought about becoming dentists, but more importantly that they challenge themselves and start now.

Those alternative summer camps have another benefit for teens: they're free.