Newport News Public Schools signed a partnership with Riverside College of Health Sciences to enhance career pathways for students at the Governor's Health Sciences Academy at Warwick High School on December 11 as part of the school division's annual Take Your Legislator to School Day event at the school.
\r\nNNPS and Riverside officials celebrated their collaboration and signed the official agreement before attendees toured the GHSA and NNPS Legislative Liaison Patrick Finneran outlined the school division's key legislative priorities for the upcoming General Assembly session. Senator Danny Diggs, Delegate Shelly Simonds, Delegate Chad Green and a representative from Senator Mamie Locke's office were in attendance.
\r\n\"We are excited about the future pathway opportunities that the Riverside partnership will bring and the ways that the program develops our graduates into vital medical personnel here in their own community,\" said Marjo Holthaus, program administrator for the GHSA.
\r\nRobin Nelhuebel, president of the Riverside College of Health Sciences, described how a longtime informal partnership with the GHSA has evolved into the larger commitment of a formal partnership. The geographic proximity of Riverside to Warwick, along with the approximately 400 students attending the GHSA and graduating either career or college ready, combined for a perfect fit to try to address the shortage of professionals in the healthcare fields.
\r\nRudolph Vazquez-Lozada, a senior in the GHSA, described how his experience with caring teachers and staff in the program has helped him grow more outgoing during his high school years and prepared him for his plan to become a heart surgeon.
\r\n\"I'm grateful for everything this program has given me,\" Vazquez-Lozada said. \"It's been a life-changing experience and I'm proud to share it with others.\"
\r\nThrough the Riverside partnership, GHSA students will benefit from specialized clinical education support provided by RCHS faculty and gain access to meaningful clinical experiences. This collaboration enhances the rigorous academic curriculum offered by GHSA and provides students with invaluable exposure to real-world health care environments, preparing them for successful careers in the health care field, according to Riverside.
\r\nRiverside will provide professionals from nursing and allied health disciplines to guest lecture in classroom as well as simulation lab settings, programmed visits to Riverside's multiple high-tech simulated patient care labs and preferred admissions for GHSA graduates into RCHS undergraduate programs.
\r\nThe day's GHSA tour showed attendees the clinic, lab and classroom facilities that provide a setting for hands-on learning. Students guided their visitors through various stations demonstrating skills they are learning in their medical classes.
\r\nThe new partnership with Riverside will expand those opportunities in a variety of ways.
\r\n\"Through this incredible initiative, we will see our students grow into compassionate, capable professionals who are ready to make a difference in our community,\" Holthaus said.
","body2":"","publish_date":"Dec 11, 2024","image_1_path":"","image_1_caption":"","image_2_path":"2412110412271227_leg1.jpg","image_2_caption":"","image_3_path":"2412110412271227_leg2.jpg","image_3_caption":"","image_4_path":"2412110412271227_leg3.jpg","image_4_caption":"","image_5_path":"2412110412271227_leg4.jpg","image_5_caption":"","no_link":"","url":"https://sbo.nn.k12.va.us/news/archive/2024-12-11_NNPS-hosts-Legislator-Day--signs-partnership-with-Riverside-Health.html","news_id":"4205"},{"headline":"STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: Warwick High School 12th grader Rudolph Vazquez-Lozada","blurb":"Student in the Governor's Health Sciences Academy magnet program","description":"Spending high school immersed in healthcare suits Rudolph Vazquez-Lozada perfectly. He plans to work in a medical setting and figured it's never too early to start.","body":"Spending high school immersed in healthcare suits Rudolph Vazquez-Lozada perfectly. He plans to work in a medical setting and figured it's never too early to start.
\r\nVazquez-Lozada got interested in all things healthcare after starting treatment for eczema as a child. As he listened to a presentation about the various Magnet and Specialty Programs that Newport News Public Schools offers when he was in middle school, the Governor's Health Sciences Academy at Warwick High School seemed like a natural fit.
\r\n\"I became really interested because I knew that I was able to gain hands-on activities and experiences with this program, and learn a lot more about healthcare and medicine,\" Vazquez-Lozada said.
\r\nNow a senior and student leader, Vazquez-Lozada visited middle schools this fall to recruit students. He explained the benefits of the GHSA and its three pathways of study - therapeutic services, diagnostic services, and biotechnology research and development.
\r\n\"Some kids have told me that I've inspired them to continue their pathway through medicine and healthcare,\" Vazquez-Lozada said. \"Because initially they were scared and shy because they thought it was something really hard that they couldn't achieve. I've had some middle school boys be scared of gender norms - because many of them want to be nurses.\"
\r\nVazquez-Lozada is president of Warwick's chapter of HOSA-Future Health Professionals and founded Warwick's chapter of Student Organ Donation Advocates among many extracurricular activities along with his stellar academic performance. Being at GHSA has led to networking, internships and mentors he couldn't have accessed elsewhere, he said.
\r\nThe versatile program allows students to earn professional licenses and certificates to qualify them to work immediately after graduation, as well as preparing them for further training or college.
\r\n\"I'm in the therapeutics strand, which is more hands-on because I do eventually want to become a heart surgeon, more specifically a cardio-thoracic surgeon,\" Vazquez-Lozada said. \"It's a very interesting program that you can do in high school because many of the classes, depending on the pathway you choose, are different topics that you take.\"
\r\nWhile immersed in the community of his high school program at Warwick, he developed from a shy introverted student into a confident leader, Vazquez-Lozada said. After graduation, he is planning to attend college followed by medical school.
\r\n\"I've just been really glad to have access to these opportunities and these resources offered at the school,\" Vazquez-Lozada said, thanking his teachers who are willing to help students with anything and freely share their experiences in the healthcare field to help plan careers and futures.
\r\n\"I'm just really happy and it's inspiring that we have that here at the Governor's Health Sciences Academy. It's truly amazing that we have teachers like these people.\"
","body2":"Visit Student Spotlights on the Newport News Public Schools website.
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