Sixteen-year-old Miraya Agarwal sat at a keyboard in University Hospital’s recreation therapy room Friday morning, her voice carrying pop classics down the hallways. Patients tapped their feet, swayed in their chairs and smiled as Agarwal moved through her set list.

The Grade 11 Catholic Central secondary school student is among 34 teenagers who spent the summer volunteering at London Health Sciences Centre. Her role was to give patients something beyond medicine, the joy of music.

“I thought it was amazing because it was the hands-on health-care experience, but I also got to do something I loved for the patients,” Agarwal said.

Before volunteering at the hospital, she was thinking about pursuing medicine or software engineering. The experience, she says, has made her more inclined t

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