Saturday, November 14, 2026
Wearing gowns and gloves and gripping surgical tools, a group of students from Valley Stream high schools were given a close look at what takes place behind operating room doors during Shadow Day at Long Island Jewish Valley Stream hospital.
The students’ Nov. 5 visit was part of a 10-week career exploration program run by the hospital in partnership with the Valley Stream Central High School District.
About 15 students from Valley Stream North, South and Central high schools are taking part in the program this year. Hospital leaders, in turn, visit their schools once a week, and each session covers a different topic, from effective communication to finding their own path.
“The whole reason of this is to start them early,” said Tatiana Rodriguez, a project manager at Northwell Health who helps lead the program. “A lot of students look into internships or learning about healthcare in college.”
The program, now in its third year, started at Malverne High School, Rodriguez’s alma mater, before expanding to Valley
Stream. This is the second year Valley Stream students have taken part, and the hospital has committed to working with the district for three years, so each high school gets an equal chance to participate.
“We want them to feel seen and heard,” Rodriguez said, explaining why the group is purposefully kept small.
Shadow Day began with hands-on stations run by the hospital’s perioperative team. The stations walk the students through an operation in order — from how to get sterile, to preparing a patient and making the first incision. Students practiced tying sutures, used a surgical drill to place screws in foam models of bone and worked with laparoscopic instruments that require pinpoint precision.
“Welcome to my surgical team,” Christine Crisci, a nurse educator at LIJ Valley Stream, told one student who finished tying her first knot.
Crisci, who has worked for Northwell Health for about 27 years, said the stations are meant to show students how much coordination goes into each surgery.
After the rotations, the students heard from Dr. Gainosuke Sugiyama, executive vice president of surgery and vice president of surgical services at LIJ Valley Stream. Sugiyama, an immigrant who said he didn’t always have good access to healthcare growing up, told the students that mentoring has defined his career. Five of the surgeons who work with him today were once his medical students or residents.
“None of us get to where we are without somebody else, a mentor,” Sugiyama said. “So, it’s a circle of life. So, for me, it’s very important to give back and to mentor.”
Dr. David Glatt, an anesthesiologist, explained to students how surgery differs from other fields of medicine.
“Surgeons see a problem, they have to fix it right away,” Glatt said, easing one of the most common fears about surgery by saying it almost never happens that a patient is awake and feels the operation.
The day ended with a mini career fair, where students met staff from departments, including rehabilitation, respiratory therapy, wound care and the hospital’s eye bank, which recovers donated corneas for transplant.
Rodriguez said the program not only points students toward a career, but it also helps to build confidence.
“When they first got here, they were very quiet, and as you can see right now, they’re participating,” she said. “They’re talking. They’re smiling.”
The program will wrap up on Dec. 10 with capstone presentations, when students will show their families a vision board and a road map of the schooling, certifications and training they’ll need to reach the careers they want.
Rodriguez expressed hope that the students will stay in touch with the hospital as they move on to college, internships and their first jobs.
“It also kind of solidifies the direction that they want to go in,” she said, “so that they’re a little bit more ready when they go to college.”
