Career Tech health science students to receive college credit

Grace George, The Record-Eagle, Traverse City, Mich.
·4 min read

Apr. 7—TRAVERSE CITY — The Northwest Education Services Intermediate School District will begin offering students classes that will allow them to earn direct credits to Grand Valley State University and other universities in Michigan, starting with 2023 graduates.

Officials from North Ed and GVSU came together at the Career Tech Center in Traverse City on Wednesday to sign an official agreement that deems North Ed's Health Sciences classes equivalent to two, three-credit classes at the university.

Those two classes at GVSU are Medical Terminology and Introduction to Healthcare.

Starting with this year's seniors, if North Ed Health Sciences students earn a B or higher in their classes, they can earn up to six college credits that would directly apply to those two GVSU classes. Because GVSU is an accredited university, students will be able to apply those credits to other universities in the state as well, said North Ed Superintendent Nick Ceglarek.

Owen Turick, a senior from Elk Rapids High School who is in the Health Sciences program at Career Tech, is attending Western Michigan University next year, with the aim of becoming a Physician's Assistant in the future.

When he graduates from high school in May, he will already have completed six college credits towards his undergraduate degree at WMU, which he said feels like a head start academically and financially.

"I think it's awesome," Turick said. "It'll certainly help lighten the load."

Through the Health Sciences program, students earn skills that are relevant to careers in healthcare, such as anatomy and physiology, medical ethics and law and medical terminology.

Dawn Anton, an instructor in the program, said the classes are for students interested in a wide range of positions within the medical field, from nursing to vet science. She has seen students go to college after graduating, while others end up getting certifications and working right out of high school.

For those who are college-bound, this agreement offers them more financial freedom, and for those going right into the workforce, the agreement just further validates the level of knowledge and education they received at the Career Tech Center.

"I think that it's a great opportunity for students, whether they're college-bound or not," Anton said.

The Health Sciences program is one of North Ed's most popular programs, with 135 students broken up into six cohorts.

This agreement will have a "tremendous positive impact" on all the students the ISD serves, Ceglarek said. It will give students a "jump start" in their careers and future education and give them the confidence to pursue higher education as well, he said.

North Ed serves 16 local public schools, as well as local charter schools, local private schools and some students from outside of the ISD who pay tuition to attend North Ed.

The agreement is also a testament to North Ed's instructors, as GVSU has recognized the program as high quality, Ceglarek said.

Theresa Bacon-Baguley, associate dean in the College of Health Professions, was among the GVSU faculty who conducted the full curriculum review. It was nearly identical to what the university offers, making it an "easy decision" to give students direct college credit, Bacon-Baguley said.

Bacon-Baguley said that she is a big proponent for bringing educational opportunities to rural areas like northern Michigan, through agreements like this, as well as through Northwestern Michigan College's University Center, where GVSU offered classes for the past two decades.

The North Ed and GVSU agreement will give students the confidence to pursue higher education, which is part of GVSU's greater mission, she said.

"Do we want students to come to Grand Valley? Absolutely, I mean, that would be a win-win," Bacon-Baguley said. "But if students go off anywhere, it's positive."

GVSU has a similar agreement with the Teacher Academy program at Kent Intermediate School District in Grand Rapids.

As for the future of agreements like this in northern Michigan, North Ed has already submitted a proposal for a similar agreement for the ISD's Teacher Academy students.

Amy Schelling, associate dean in the College of Education and Community Innovation at GVSU, is currently working with North Ed to develop a similar agreement. She commended the program and North Ed's solutions-centered approach to the teacher shortage.

"The Teacher Academy programs are so important," Schelling said. "They do provide students with an opportunity to explore the profession of teaching and then to really see themselves in that work and gain valuable knowledge and skills that set them up for success in their education programs at the university level."