Student Tori Gomez, right, uses student Aaliyah Hire to practice taking a person’s temperature. Photo by Tim Ashley.

By Tim Ashley
InkFreeNews

SYRACUSE — High school students interested in pursuing a career in health care are learning a broad base of health care topics and medical conditions. When the 2021-22 school year began in August, Health Science I moved to its new home in the former central office building of the Wawasee Community School Corporation in Syracuse.

During the 2020-21 school year, Wawasee Building Trades and Strahm Construction transformed the old central office that was originally built shortly after the high school was in the late 1960s. It now houses the offices of the Pathways Wawasee Area Career and Technical Education Cooperative, the Health Science I class, what will become the Entrepreneurship Center, the office of Jon Everingham, director of the work-based learning program and another room that will hopefully be used for another class of some type.

Originally the Power Up! class taught by Nate O’Connell was to be located in the building, but he was moved to the industrial arts area where Allen Coblentz teaches. O’Connell now focuses on teaching electrical engineering.

Health Science I, taught by registered nurse Randi Warren, had been located at Goshen High School the previous three years. Although a primary focus of the class is nursing skills, “it is more than a nursing program,” said Vince Beasley, Pathways director. “It is an exposure to the medical field.”

Students from Wawasee, Fairfield, West Noble, Goshen and Columbia City take either an A.M. or a P.M. class. There are currently eight students in the morning class and 18 in the afternoon class.

They learn about medical terminology, anatomy and physiology of the human body, professionalism and communication skills in the workplace, infection control, health care career options and more. Warren said there are more than 150 career options that can be explored — “literally anything in health care.”

Among the career options are sports medicine, nurse practitioner, certified nursing assistant, physical therapist, ultrasound technician and many more. COVID has certainly impacted what is taught and a lot of time is spent talking about infection control. There are four stations set up in the classroom resembling a patient’s area at a hospital or nursing home.

Students can earn a state department of health certified nursing aide certification and other certifications. Beasley noted “in the state’s eyes this would be a high demand, high wage job.”

Something planned for the Entrepreneurship Center is giving business students a practical application of what they learn in the classroom. They would learn about marketing and selling Wawasee High School athletic wear.

“They (students) would sell their (athletic department) merchandise out of the room,” Beasley said. Patrons would be brought in so the students could interact with them while selling athletic department merchandise.

Beasley oversees all of the Pathways programs offered such as welding just down Chicago Street, marine mechanics, which is located behind the central office, and several others.

Many employers are almost begging for qualified workers. “We are inundated with calls from manufacturing and they tell us they need students who are ready to go to work,” Beasley said.

And it’s Beasley’s job, and others, to make sure those students are ready to go to work.

Students Jossie Coy, left, and Kenya Najera are at one of the practice stations in Health Science I. Photo by Tim Ashley.