As students filed into their Psychology class, there was no lecture, Powerpoint or TED talk waiting for them from teacher Linda Blasdel. Instead the students were greeted by a smiling face of a different woman.

Dr. Kathy Hedges, mother of senior Anna Sell, is a neurologist at Lee’s Summit Hospital. She came to speak to each of the three Psychology classes to discuss her job as a Neurologist as well as to show students which parts of the brain affect everyday life.

After giving a brief summary of her education and medical background, Hedges performed a simulation of a neurological exam, one that she completes on a day-to-day basis, on senior Kate O’Keefe.

Hedges began by checking O’Keefe’s orientation by asking her questions about the date and her location and asking her to complete a counting exercise. Hedges then tested her Cranial Nerves and strength, followed by sensations, reflexes and coordination.

“I think that it helped everyone understand what we were learning in class and how it can be applied to the real world,” senior Erin Mills said. “The connection between what we learn in class and how we will use it in our everyday lives makes people more interested in the topic.”

Hedges then showed the class two different brains that she had borrowed from University of Kansas Hospital’s cadaver lab. Before allowing students to hold the brains themselves, Hedges asked that everyone be respectful and emphasized that the person had donated their brain to help in education.

“It awed me that it held a human being’s every thought, from when they were born until the moment they died,” Mills said.

Hedges had come into Psychology classes before, but this is the first time she has brought a brain to Sion since 2012, when Sell was a freshman.
“I’ve been doing this ever since my daughter got into school, and I enjoyed it so much,” Hedges said. “I just find that the students are so engaged because it’s kinda gross, kinda fascinating. We all have a brain; they all want to see it, so that’s why I keep coming.”