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Gulf High Career Academy Ends Year With Strong Pulse

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By KLINT LOWRY

The Suncoast News

Published: May 5, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY - Imagine being in high school and never having used that time-honored gripe, "How is this class going to help me in later life?"

About two dozen freshmen at Gulf High School had that luxury this year, as the inaugural class in the school's Health Careers Academy.

The academy is a rigorous program that takes a traditional high school curriculum and melds it with classes and training designed to prepare students for higher education or to go directly to work in the health-care industry.

"We are a small learning community within the larger population of Gulf and our students take classes that specialize in topics and units dealing with the health careers," said Carol Hlad, lead teacher and program coordinator.

The Health Careers Academy is Pasco County Schools' response to Florida Senate Bill 1232, the Florida Career and Professional Education Act. The legislation, enacted in 2007, requires school districts to create career academies in high-demand fields. The purpose of the specialized programs is getting students on a path to post-secondary schooling or the job market.

Along with Gulf High School, health career academies have been established at Zephyrhills High School, J.W. Mitchell High School in Trinity, and a combined program for Ridgewood High School and Marchman Technical Education Center in New Port Richey. Each school was responsible for creating its program. A similar career academy focusing on information technology opened in January at Wiregrass Ranch High School in Wesley Chapel.

Students Contribute To Success

With its first year almost behind it, the Gulf program probably will undergo some tweaking but has been deemed a success, Hlad said.

She gave much of the credit to the students.

"They are stepping up to the plate," Hlad said.
Freshman year in high school is tough under any circumstances, she added; it's a huge transition. The 25-student health academy class took mostly honors-level courses but maintained almost a straight-B average for their freshman year. Only four dropped out of the program, most simply because they were moving.

One of the initial aims in designing the program was to create a sense among the students that they belong to something special, Hlad explained. That begins with the selection process.

Students apply in the eighth grade, and their records have to show they have demonstrated both academic ability and personal character. Ideally, the program is for students who have potential and an interest in health care but may not have had much focus or recognition so far in their academic careers.

In the Health Careers Academy, many of the classes are what are called "pure," meaning all the students in the program are in class together. This adds to the sense of camaraderie.

It also allows the teachers to tailor lesson plans to fit within the academy's curriculum while still meeting Sunshine State standards.

In language arts class, students recently had to pick a disease and write a paper on it. In science class, students were asked to create visual presentations demonstrating what they had learned about the structure and function of the kidney.

The inclusiveness of the program also allows the 11 teachers and administrators to focus on the students. The staff members meet every week to share insights and observations of the program as a whole and the individual progress of each student.

Facing The 'Icky Stuff'

As required, the Health Career Academy was designed and is operated with guidance from an advisory committee. The advisory panel is made up of representatives from a variety of local health care companies. This helps ensure the program really is preparing the students for the real world.

This is an invaluable aspect of the program, said Rosemarie Lowry, a registered nurse who teaches medical skills classes.

"We spent a whole semester talking about medical careers, what characteristics a medical professional should have," Lowry said.

The program received a large startup grant, much of which was used to buy a computer program offering lessons that are pertinent to almost all the academy's classes. And Lowry can teach them the practical applications of those lessons.

Still, she said, there's no substitute for the real thing.

"You have to face some icky stuff," Lowry said. "You may think, 'I want to be a surgeon,' but then discover you don't like being around blood.

"What better time to learn that than in high school?"

So far, the exposure has only reaffirmed the students' interests.

"I joined because it looks good on a college application and I want to do something in health care," student Cody Wenger said.

Classmates Alex Santos and Adam Blazek said they had moderate enthusiasm last year when they signed up for the academy. After a year in the program they are certain they are on the right track and are proud to be part of the program.

"Our group is recognized," Adam said. "We've all gotten to be friends. I'm definitely interested in the health field.

"I want to be an RN registered nurse or a physical therapist."

The boys recently spent a day at Gulf Middle School to promote the program to eighth-graders for next year's incoming class.

"We already got 20 to 30 applicants," Hlad said. "We'd like, hopefully, to increase that to about 50."

Ultimately, she said, the goal is for the academy to have 300 students, spread among the four grade levels.

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