St. Luke's Hospital - Miners Campus of Coaldale held its annual Physicians Dinner on Wednesday night where students from several area high schools got the chance to rub elbows with future employers and mentors at the Summit Hill's Mansion House Restaurant.

"We invite students to have dinner with our physicians as an overt way of letting them know that they have great medical professionals right here at home that can be a resource for them as they consider educational and career paths," said Micah Gursky, director of business development and physician relations for the hospital."I always really liked people and liked making people feel better," said Lehighton Area High School junior Elise Johnston, on her intent to work in the medical field. Johnston is hoping to enroll in an accelerated physicians assistant program and is currently researching several colleges.Senior Brianna Bonetsky of Tamaqua will continue her education at Stevenson University focusing on the OB-GYN field. "I've just always been interested in helping people," she said.Physicians in attendance included dinner program creator Matthew Zuber; Mark Kender, St. Luke's Miners vice president of medical affairs; Adam Colombo, St. Luke's Miners emergency department medical director; Kimberly Chaput, St. Luke's Gastroenterology Specialists; Thomas Donkar, general surgeon; and Kim Otto, doctor of nursing practice."There are always students who change their mind and go into different fields. We wanted the nurse practitioners represented at this dinner," Otto said.Senior and junior students of Tamaqua, Marian, Lehighton, Mahanoy, Panther Valley, Weatherly and Jim Thorpe who are interested in pursuing a career in medicine joined the doctors for the evening in hopes of gaining insight into their chosen field."I came to broaden my horizons and meet some people who can help get me to get acclimated to the medial field," Tamaqua senior Zack Merenda said."The first time we did the dinner I was surprised by how much the physicians got out of it. The questions from students about practicing in a small town made the doctors have to really think about the answers," Gursky said."I just wanted to thank everyone for being here. Its good to meet you and learn about your story," Zuber told the students.The dinner was first hosted in 2009 when former Tamaqua student Zuber was enrolled at Ursinus College."He approached us with an idea for connecting local students with doctors as a way to help them along their educational and career paths," Gursky said.Zuber was admitted in the inaugural class of the Temple-St. Luke's School of Medicine, where he graduated in 2015."He was emphatic from the beginning that the event be simple, 'Just let the students and the doctors talk with each other over dinner.' " Gursky said.