High School Students Strive To Be Nurses

By Kelby Coggins, Torch Reporter

Everyday many OHS students get on the bus and travel to BHS for the afternoon to attend classes at the Bloomington Area Career center with one class offer a CNA, where students about becoming a nurse.

In the Certified Nursing Assistant class, students spend two days a week at a local nursing home the rest of the days; in class, students learn nursing techniques. They learn how to properly take care of the residents, work efficiently, and how to work as a team. Students also can take the CNA exam in May, which means they will leave high school with a CNA certification and 8 college credits.

In class right, CNA students are learning about hearing, speech and vision problems and  how to take care of a resident with these types of problems.

The students have to do a series of hands on tasks while working in the nursing home. This class is very hands on, so it makes it easy for students to get the tasks right and be comfortable with them.

There are many benefits to taking this class. Students meet people from many different schools, work with amazing nurses and take care of amazing people. It’s a great foot in the door for people that want to go into healthcare careers.

Aayliah Nickum, OHS junior, said, “I’ve met a lot of people which have become really good friends.” Her favorite topic to learn about was the Dementia and AD because that’s the field she would like to go into after high school.

Jamie Hamblin, OHS senior, said taking Bloomington Area Career Center classes is beneficial to anyone. Many of them have college credits, it something different to take then normal high school classes, and you get to meet new people.

This class also helps students decide what they want to do after high school. Many take this class knowing they want to go into the medical field, but they aren’t sure what they want to do exactly, so this class helps them focus on a particular specialty.