McClure Health Science High School provides a hands-on approach to learning where anyone one in the district can apply, Maya Brown of NBCU Academy reports.
GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — High school students at a Gwinnett County school are getting practical experience before college as they prepare for careers in health care.
Maya Brown of NBCU Academy reports that students at McClure Health Science High School are able to chase their dreams well before college.
“We do a great job of preparing them for what their future holds,” Jennifer Chambers said, who is a school coordinator at McClure.
Alvaro Saldarriaga, a student at McClure, is working toward his goals.
“I have been able to learn from taking temperature, patient intake, performing injections, also like reading the EKG,” he said to Brown.
The public school provides a hands-on approach to learning.
“When you take a child or a student, and they are getting a chance to put their hands on it and do it, it gives them a chance to interact with it, and they’re gaining so much more knowledge,” teacher James Boulware said.
Students can begin six career paths — from clinical work, like patient care, to support positions in public health.
“Our students can go to a hospital and just start working there until they figure out what they want to do with their future, or they can go to college and continue reaching their working experience with these certifications that they’re graduating with,” Dr. Gypsy Hernandez said, who is the principal of McClure Health Science High.
Data shows about six percent of U.S. physicians identify as Hispanic, but McClure is also working to change that.
More than two-thirds of McClure’s student body are Latino students — a population underrepresented in medicine. The Latino community is also less likely than any other racial demographic to see a health care provider, data shows.
Hernandez said her students will be able to help close the racial gap in health care.
Maya Brown is an NBCU Academy Storyteller.