В Митчелле стартовала первая программа Avera Academy для старшеклассников

MITCHELL — For eight Mitchell High School seniors, the path from high school to a health care career is beginning earlier than graduation day. Instead of waiting until they enroll in college to decide whether health care is right for them, the students are spending their senior year taking college courses at Mitchell Technical College and exploring more than 35 health care departments at Avera. ADVERTISEMENT The inaugural Avera Academy class is the result of a partnership between Avera Queen of Peace, the Mitchell School District and Mitchell Technical College designed to give students a closer look at the wide range of careers available in health care while helping them earn college credit along the way. For Avera Queen of Peace CEO Dr. Hilary Rockwell, the program is about exposing students to careers they may not even realize exist. “If you ask most people, and especially high schoolers or middle schoolers, if they want to be in healthcare they think that's a nurse or a doctor,” Rockwell said. “But there is a myriad of people and a whole community of people essentially that work within healthcare.” The academic schedule is split between the three institutions. Students spend Monday through Thursday taking classes at Mitchell Tech while continuing to attend portions of their regular high school schedule. On Fridays, they trade the classroom for Avera Queen of Peace and Grassland, where they rotate through departments and shadow health care professionals. The experience ranges from emergency medicine, cardiology and surgery to diagnostic imaging, pediatrics, pharmacy and information technology. The academy builds on four years of summer health care camps Walton previously held, giving students deeper, hands-on exposure. The goal is not necessarily to convince every student to pursue a particular health care career. ADVERTISEMENT Sometimes, the most valuable lesson is discovering that a career is not a good fit. Lisa Walton, nurse educator at Avera Queen of Peace, said students get an opportunity to experience departments firsthand rather than trying to imagine what a career will be like from a description in a brochure. “They learn best that way and they also enjoy that more,” Walton said. A student might think a particular career sounds appealing, only to discover after spending time in the department that the day-to-day reality is different from what they expected. Walton pointed to the hospital laboratory as an example. A student could be interested in laboratory work, but after seeing the environment and experiencing the work, realize it is not something they want to pursue. “That's really beneficial,” Walton said. “It lets them engage more when they can get to actually be there, to see if ‘Yes, this is something I want to pursue’ or ‘No, I will definitely never do that.’” That exposure can help students avoid spending time and money pursuing a degree in a field that ultimately is not right for them. ADVERTISEMENT The academy also gives students an opportunity to interact with professionals who can explain what it takes to enter different careers, including the college courses, grades and training required. For the students, the experience comes with a financial benefit. Avera is funding the program, covering tuition, books and fees for up to 12 dual-credit hours at Mitchell Tech. Students also receive transportation and meals as part of the program. During the fall semester, students take Medical Terminology, Medical Law and Ethics and Student Success. In the spring, their coursework includes Certified Nursing Assistant, Anatomy and Physiology and Student Success. The CNA course provides another advantage. Because students can complete the course during their senior year, they can leave high school with a marketable health care credential and be eligible to work as CNAs. Scott Fossum, vice president for academic affairs at Mitchell Tech, said the academy provides more than college credits. “Beyond the credits and tuition-free savings, they gain critical soft skills,” Fossum said. The academy is based on a model that began in the Sioux Falls School District in 2019. While the Sioux Falls program has grown to more than 60 students, Mitchell's inaugural class is intentionally limited to eight. ADVERTISEMENT The smaller class gives the partners an opportunity to learn how the program works locally and provide students with individualized attention. It also gives Avera an opportunity to begin building a local pipeline of future employees. Health care organizations continue to need workers in a wide range of positions, including nurses, surgical technicians, dieticians and environmental services workers. Radiologic technology has been a popular career pathway in Mitchell because of Mitchell Tech's existing program, but Avera hopes the academy will introduce students to less familiar opportunities as well. The program also focuses on students who may not have previously considered health care or higher education. Walton said organizers look for students with a variety of backgrounds, including low-income and first-generation college students, English language learners and students with unique life experiences. “The goal is really the kids that did not maybe realize all their options out there and the potential,” Rockwell said. “That's the group we're starting with.” ADVERTISEMENT That emphasis reflects one of the larger goals of the partnership — making the most of resources already available in Mitchell. Rockwell said the community has an unusual combination of a health care system, a technical college and a school district that can work together to create opportunities for students. “In any community, but especially a community our size, it is ... we have so many great resources here with having two colleges, a robust healthcare system,” Rockwell said. “So these programs are really important so that we are all working together as the community to improve our community.” The Friday rotations are expected to give students plenty of opportunities to see health care in action. Their schedule includes an emergency management mock drill, time in a simulation truck and the emergency department, operating room experiences and a planned opportunity to shadow the Care Flight team in Sioux Falls. Students also will have the chance to work with equipment and see procedures firsthand, including using an operating room surgical robot during rotations. For Avera, the hope is that some students will eventually return as employees. The academy supports students in finding part-time work while they are in high school and college, with the long-term goal of helping transition students into full-time positions within Avera after they complete their education. ADVERTISEMENT Rockwell said reaching students during their senior year is intentional. “I think that's the time where they're really starting to think about the future,” she said. “But I sometimes joke that we need to start recruiting our nurses in middle school.” Waiting until after graduation can mean losing potential employees as students choose colleges, careers and other opportunities. “If we waited until it was postgrad, I think a lot of them would already be decided, or we would lose them in the grand shuffle of life and what happens after high school,” Rockwell said. For Mitchell's first eight Avera Academy students, that decision-making process has already begun. They are learning how to balance high school and college, earning credits toward a future degree and getting an inside look at careers that could become their futures. And by the time they walk across the stage at Mitchell High School, they may already have a better idea of where they want to go next. “We're hoping some of these kids say, ‘Oh my gosh, this is awesome, this is what I want to do, and I want to come back to work,’” Rockwell said.