{"id":88456,"date":"2025-07-24T11:02:19","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T11:02:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/88456\/"},"modified":"2025-07-24T11:02:19","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T11:02:19","slug":"learn-more-about-saisds-health-track-programs-for-high-schoolers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/88456\/","title":{"rendered":"Learn more about SAISD’s health track programs for high schoolers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Devanie Tovar landed a job at a plasma center right after graduating from Edison High School in 2022. Now, she\u2019s an X-ray technician for the U.S. Navy and hopes to be a surgeon one day.<\/p>\n

Tovar credits her phlebotomy certification, earned through San Antonio Independent School District\u2019s medical track program, for her career path. Without it, Tovar said she wouldn\u2019t have been able to get a job making $17 an hour right after graduating high school.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Currently, the average hourly wage for a health care support position in San Antonio<\/a> is $15.93, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.\u00a0<\/p>\n

More than wanting to learn a profitable skill, SAISD\u2019s phlebotomy program caught Tovar\u2019s attention because of its \u201chands-on\u201d nature.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just something I\u2019ve always wanted \u2026 helping other people,\u201d Tovar, 22, said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

SAISD has offered phlebotomy certifications for six years now, and so far this year, 50 students have completed certifications.\u00a0This program helps students learn skills for drawing blood for medical testing, research or donation.<\/p>\n

\"\"Devante Tovar received a phlebotomy certification while attending Edison High School in 2022. Now she\u2019s an X-ray technician for the U.S. Navy. Credit: Courtesy \/ SAISD<\/p>\n

Piloted at Edison High School and SAISD\u2019s Adult and Community Education Center, the certificate is accessible to nearly all of the district\u2019s high schools.<\/p>\n

A phlebotomy certificate can take between six months and a year and half to finish, including mandatory health science classes and the completion of 35 blood draws in one semester.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many high school students who go through the phlebotomy program often complete a certified medical assistant (CMA) program too. During the 2024-25 school year, 123 students across the school district enrolled in CMA programs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Johnny Vahalik, assistant superintendent of college, career and military readiness at SAISD, worked on expanding health career and technical education programs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur model was, \u2018What do you need to get a job in a doctor\u2019s office right out of high school?\u2019\u201d Vahalik said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Health care jobs are also in high demand in the San Antonio area. The local life sciences and health industry was projected to grow 10% between 2023 and 2028<\/a>, and there were nearly 5,000 health care job openings in Bexar County in 2023<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Having both phlebotomy and CMA certifications makes a student \u201cpowerful,\u201d Vahalik said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Undocumented students excluded<\/p>\n

Despite recent growth and expansion of career and technical education programs in San Antonio<\/a>, industry-based certifications are not accessible to all students.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To have legitimate licenses, students often have to apply and register with the state of Texas, meaning they must be fingerprinted, have some form of valid identification and have a Social Security number.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Students without legal status can\u2019t apply for state licensures to work in law enforcement, phlebotomy, as medical or certified nursing aides or as a pharmacy technician.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Often, Vahalik doesn\u2019t know a student is undocumented until they\u2019ve passed all their classes and it\u2019s time to register with the state. The district has been lobbying with industry partners to try and change state legislation restricting certifications to documented residents and citizens, Vahalik told the Report.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut this year has been the opposite \u2014 we\u2019re not seeing that support from the state at all,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

More than job placement<\/p>\n

For students, having these certifications can be more than a ticket into the health workforce.\u00a0Vahalik calls them \u201cstepping stones\u201d to high-paying and fulfilling careers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lilly Mora, a rising senior at Phoenix Middle College, got her phlebotomy certification during her junior year and will graduate high school as a certified nursing assistant (CNA). The 17-year-old is part of the first cohort of phlebotomy technicians and CNAs at her high school.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Phoenix Middle College and St. Philip\u2019s Early College High School\u00a0 \u2014 both located on the St. Philip\u2019s College campus \u2014 offer programs where students take college courses specializing in phlebotomy education and techniques.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mora ultimately wants to join the U.S. Air Force and train to be a registered nurse. She would be the first in her family to go to college. <\/p>\n

She said she felt motivated to pursue a health track after going through the loss of her godfather and grandmother about two years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mom is very proud,\u201d Mora said. \u201cMy mom\u2019s a teen mom, so at my age, she was already experiencing different life experiences, and she just wants me to shoot for more and better in life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Mora and Tovar encourage students to pursue phlebotomy certifications: it\u2019s more than learning how to stick people with needles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI encourage people to start as soon as they can and as soon as they get their hands on any type of experience like this,\u201d Mora said.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Devanie Tovar landed a job at a plasma center right after graduating from Edison High School in 2022.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":88457,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5133],"tags":[5229,59294,59295,59296,21880,7202,25534,7203,59297,59298,358,7453,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,20705],"class_list":{"0":"post-88456","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-edison-high-school","10":"tag-johnny-vahalik","11":"tag-phoenix-middle-college","12":"tag-saisd","13":"tag-san-antonio","14":"tag-san-antonio-independent-school-district","15":"tag-sanantonio","16":"tag-st-philips-college","17":"tag-st-philips-early-college-high-school","18":"tag-texas","19":"tag-top-story","20":"tag-tx","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-united-states-of-america","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-usa","27":"tag-wc-750-1000"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114907876135516526","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}