SOUTHWICK – High school seniors at Southwick Regional School have been participating in the school’s DLE (Diversified Learning) program this 2018-19 school year, a semester-long program that allows high school seniors take an internship in a career-field they may want to pursue in college and beyond.
Starting in the 1990’s in the Southwick school district, the DLE also teaches students how to be successful with applying for jobs, interviewing, and more.
This year, 14 seniors have participated in the program out of the 122 seniors that will be set to graduate in June 2019.
The students in the DLE are experiencing their own unique internships. Alexander Jackson and Isabel Cheffer have conducted their internship at the Health Simulation Lab at Holyoke Community College. Featuring four simulation suites, 11 high-fidelity patient simulators, and a medical-office room, the simulation lab is made to look very similar to a real hospital. During the 2017-18 school year, the lab served about 100 nursing students and up to 797 non-nursing students.
Connor Roy is seen working with DPW blank Dick Grannells during his internship. (Photo by Greg Fitzpatrick)
Jackson, who is interested in computers and technology, has been able to learn that technology does play a role in the health career field.
“I get to go out and see what it’s like to do other jobs,” said Jackson. “You can relate to the simulations, it’s also nice to see how procedures are done.”
Interested in pursuing nursing in college, Cheffer saw this as a perfect opportunity for her.
“When this opportunity came along, I was so excited,” said Cheffer. “There’s something exciting every day.”
Beginning the experience in early September, one of the primary tasks that Jackson and Cheffer have done is working on the patient simulators in order to get as close as possible to real-life scenarios. This includes putting intravenous catheter’s in simulator infants and adults. The simulator are made of silicon, plastic, and tubing, with Bluetooth installed in the simulator that is connected to a computer that allows the simulator to make real-life reactions that a person or a baby would make.
Michelle Sherlin, who’s the Simulation Specialist at the lab and supervises Jackson and Cheffer, is pleased that her department has been a part of the DLE program since 2015.
“It allows our students to be immersed in the real healthcare environment,” said Sherlin. “It can be customized to meet their needs.”
Another senior in the DLE, Connor Roy, has been working in the Engineering Department at the Department of Public Works with DPW Engineer Dick Grannells.
Last year, the DPW had 2018 senior Christopher Fontaine as an intern. After speaking with Fontaine about his experience, Roy met with Grannells and got a better sense of the field and what he would be doing.
“It was pretty neat, it looked like something I was interested in,” said Roy.
Since starting the internship, Roy’s main duties have consisted of going on job sites with Grannells that are focused on infiltration systems. The student’s responsibility are to perform engineer drawings and make the calculations to determine the size of the infiltration system.
Isabel and Alexander Jackson are placing a catheter in a simulation baby at the sim lab at Holyoke Community College. (Photo by Greg Fitzpatrick)
“He’s (Roy) doing all of those calculations manually,” said Grannells. “He gets to see a lot of different projects.”
The experience for Roy thus far has led him to have future plans after graduating from high school.
“This (engineering) is something I’d definitely like to do in the future for college,” said Roy.
Grannells is a big proponent of what the DLE program does for high school students.
“I’m a firm believer in hands-on learning,” said Grannells. “To me, that’s fabulous learning you don’t learn in a classroom.”
Cody Brownwick decided to start his internship with the athletic department at Westfield State University. Brownwick’s experience began on August 31 and he has been involved in numerous tasks such as filing, rolling t-shirts, preparing for collegiate games, hanging banners, assisting sponsors, and working the front gate.
Dick Lenfest, Athletic Director at Westfield State University, is supervising Brownwick and has also had the student work in the sports information office, the equipment room, as well as exposed him to compliance and budgets.
“We want to give Cody a well-rounded experience on what it’s like in a collegiate athletic department,” said Lenfest. “We want to get Cody to understand it’s not only seeing the game, it’s dealing with everything outside the white lines.”
In his first month working in the athletic department, Brownwick has already seen the benefits of participating in the DLE program.
“It opens the door to so many things,” said Brownwick. “I feel like I’ve learned way more here.”
Maryanne Margiotta, Career Facilitator at Southwick Regional School and organizer of the DLE, has said that 19 students have already signed up for the program for the spring semester. Anyone with information or questions about the program, can contact Margiotta at [email protected] or 413-896-8163.
