Connections Spring 2012

“We do try to meet the needs of every student … so it’s truly an individual education plan for every single student, and that’s the goal of it.” career choice, so they know how to write reports because their English is directly tied into the health science field. . . . It fits everything together.”

In the Health Sciences program at Hinds, teachers Natalie Crawford and Keri Clark help educate students about their future options. In the first-year curriculum, students go on tours of healthcare facilities, learn to take patients’ vital signs, study medical terminology and anatomy and physiology, and become CPR certified. The second-year curriculum introduces different jobs in the healthcare field, discusses salary expectations and job requirements, and provides jobshadowing opportunities. Crawford reported, “ Coming through our classes, hearing terminology, [learning about] equipment and different careers that are out there, it puts them so much more ahead of your common, everyday student.”

With the MDE’s iCAP program starting in eighth grade, students can decide whether to enroll in the academies in ninth grade or the Hinds center in 10th or 11th grade, giving them numerous choices and multiple chances to attain a career education. Smith said that starting earlier helps: “By starting in ninth grade, you have the opportunity to spend a lot of time working with that first-year ninth grader and showing them all the different areas that are involved with [the] health field, and that may break them out into something different as they go up.”

The iCAPs are flexible; Burch explained that “[the students] meet every year to review their course work and for their projection plan. …They look at their iCAP, and they make decisions based upon their pathway selection.” Burch continued, “We do try to meet the needs of every student … so it’s truly an individual education plan for every single student, and that’s the goal of it.”

The aim is to produce employable students. Donna Messer, instructor in the dual credit LPN program at Hinds Community College, works with many seniors who have completed the Hinds 2-year Allied Health program. Students can enroll in the LPN program their senior year and graduate within 7 months of high school graduation. Messer said, “The students who have participated in the health sciences program have a tremendous advantage over those who have not. Because they have already learned the fundamentals of nursing care, such as bed making, vital signs, and so forth, they are ready to focus on medication administration and the more involved technical skills.”

Kelly Slawson, a former student in both the Health Sciences program and the LPN dual-credit program, agrees. Slawson, a current EMT student who completed the Health Sciences 3