Starting next school year, high school seniors interested in nursing or the healthcare field will have the opportunity to participate in the Collegiate Nursing Academy at William Jewell College, a program that allows them to earn their Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA) certification while still in high school. While, students have been able to earn their CNA certification at the Northland Career Center, the new program offers the opportunity to access college-level resources at William Jewell.
The program allows up to 20 students based on specific qualifications: a cumulative GPA of 2.8 or higher, 90% attendance, qualifying ACT or Accuplacer scores, and a successful interview with either the Director of the Early College Program or the CNA interview committee, according to William Jewell College’s nursing program website.
“Whether you want to be a nurse or doctor or just anything where you’re going to work in a healthcare environment,” Shannon Gilliland, director of the NKC Early College Academy, said about the longterm value of the experience. “Because the hands-on experience – and when I say hands-on, I think not only hands, but you’re going to be surrounded by it, you’re going to smell the smells, you’re going to see the yucky stuff. All of that is going to help a student go, ‘Yeah, this is for me,’ or ‘Thank goodness I saw this now.’”
To earn their CNA, students complete 75 hours of coursework and 100 hours of clinical experience at Liberty Hospital or North Kansas City Hospital. The hours will be completed throughout the second semester. During the first semester, students will take College Anatomy with Lab and a Core 42 class – a general education course that meets statewide college credit requirements in Missouri. If they have not yet taken a psychology class, then it will fulfill that Core42 requirement. Students will also earn 7.5 nursing credit hours, which count toward future nursing college education.
Selected students have shared what they were looking forward to in this program.
“I’m most excited for working in labs and working at a hospital where I’m actually able to do things and get that hospital experience,” junior Joanne Dinh said.
Others said they looked forward to building connections with peers and professionals in the field.
“I’m excited to meet who we’re going to collaborate with,” junior Wildjhynha Aristil said. “I love talking to people, so I’m excited to see who I’m going to potentially work with.”
Beginning in August, students will spend their mornings at William Jewell and then head back to Staley High School in the afternoons. It will give them a real look into the healthcare field while they’re still in high school.
