Everett Schools Receive $1.9 Million Dollar Grant To Support Medical Pathways Program

Word in from the Everett School District on a vocational program to launch students into medical and health careers.

Everett Public Schools has an initial launch to its medical and health careers pathway program next fall. The district aims to set interested students on the pathway to high demand careers while strengthening community’s vitality and economic growth. The medical and health careers pathway program will be housed in the vocational building at Everett High School (EHS) and will cost $12 million to fully modernize the classrooms.

The school district received $2 million from the 2018 State Legislature appropriation and was just awarded an additional $1.9 million grant from the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), setting them at nearly one-third of the way to their goal.

The medical and health careers pathway program will require partnership with the community. The OSPI grant required cost match which reflects such supportive partnerships. Everett Public Schools Foundation provided a five-year pledge of $20,000, and both Providence Regional Medical Center Everett and Kaiser Permanente pledged in-kind support and equipment.

The $12 million modernizes six classrooms of the EHS vocational building into a modern STEM medical and health career learning facility in support of its career connected learning program. Learning experiences provided in the modernized facility will prepare students for high demand medical jobs. The two floors will include lab classrooms and simulation labs with the flexibility for students to engage in problem- and project-based learning. The EHS vocational building was built in 1917, with only modest remodels to date.

The medical pathways program integrates content and workplace practices to provide foundations for student success in their pursuit to high demand healthcare careers such as medical assistants, primary care nurses and physicians, and behavioral health counselors. After completing core high school coursework, students enter the pathway and gain the academic, technical and workplace knowledge and skills allowing for seamless continuation to post-secondary certificate, associate, and/or bachelor degree programs. Students then can transition to the workplace or pursue further education.

There are three options in the medical pathways program:

1). Certificate program: e.g., medical assistant
2). Transition to community college by gaining prerequisites for pre-nursing, for example.
3). Exploratory courses in medical and health careers

“We are grateful to OSPI for their support in this program as it exemplifies the district’s commitment to career connected learning,” stated Dr. Dana Riley Black, Executive Director for STEM, Partnerships & Legislation for the school district. “This type of pathway program not only addresses a skills gap in our region’s workforce, but importantly addresses the opportunity gap of many of our students’ access to regional living wage career opportunities.”