Science teacher Kyle Kosloski trains WHS students Sita Gurung, Roji Darjee, and Madison Adamczykin on how to take blood pressure in this year’s pilot program of the new healthcare pathway. (THE WESTFIELD NEWS SUBMITTED PHOTO)
WESTFIELD – Last week, the Baker-Polito Administration awarded designations to 19 high schools for launching new programs, known as Innovation Pathways, that will connect students’ learning to a career pathway by providing work-based learning experiences with rigorous technical coursework.
These early career programs provide high school students with a coherent course of study focused on a particular field, while also offering them access to college-level courses and internship opportunities to gain work experience and insight about whether the field is something they would like to pursue in college or a career after high school.
Westfield High School is launching an Innovation Pathway in Health Care that will serve 80 students when fully enrolled. The school is partnering with MassHire Hampden, Westfield Education to Business Alliance (WE2BA), Holyoke Community College, and multiple employers including Western Massachusetts Hospital. Students in the “Biomedical Pathway” will complete a capstone project in which they will work with a certified life science teacher as well as a Registered Nurse to prepare for the Certified Nursing Assistant license.
Superintendent Stefan Czaporowski said the Innovation Pathway designation is a way for the state to address critical shortages of trained workers in certain areas, the number one being health care. Manufacturing and education round out the top three, he said.
“We are in the middle of a health care crisis,” Czaporowski said, which underlines the need. He said the Innovation Pathway designation will also open up grant funding opportunities for the program, which began as a pilot program this year.
“With the help of our community partners we have been able to run a pilot course during the 2019-2020 school year, while building a hospital room in the high school for our students to obtain realistic training,” said Science, Technology and Engineering Supervisor Lauren Figy.
Starting in the spring of 2020, eighth grade students will be able to apply for entrance into the Biomedical Pathway at Westfield High School that will begin this fall.
“The mission of this pathway is to allow students the opportunity to explore the healthcare field via coursework and practical applications which are both rigorous and relevant. Students will have practical experience and the opportunity to build the skills they need to be successful in a variety of careers within the biomedical field,” Figy added.
Students in their junior year will be enrolled in chemistry and a focused physical education class, that will provide them opportunities to begin receiving certification in: CPR, First Aid and Stop the Bleed. They will also start fulfilling hours in the healthcare field totaling a minimum of thirty hours during their junior year. Figy said the school will work with the MassHire workforce employment career counselor to place students in various experiences based on interest and community need.
In their senior year, students will complete a capstone course that will allow them to apply the knowledge and skills that they have learned previously in the pathway to new and relevant scenarios. Students will work with a certified life science teacher as well as a Registered Nurse to complete their Certified Nursing Assistant license.
