Dickinson High School senior Toi Goffney spends two mornings each week learning alongside a dental hygiene assistant at League City Family Dentistry. Seniors Victoria Estrada and Aracely Pena are learning about filling prescriptions, working with insurance companies, and helping customers while getting paid through part-time jobs in the Walgreens pharmacy. These are just two examples of the opportunity’s available to students while they are still in high school through Dickinson High School Career and Technical Education courses.
February marks Career and Technical Education Month, a chance to highlight the value of CTE programs and the marketable skills and certifications they provide students upon high school graduation. Approximately 91 percent of Dickinson High School students are enrolled in at least one Career and Technical Education course, so providing courses focused on future careers and placing students in work-based learning opportunities is a major focus in Dickinson ISD.
“Dickinson ISD offers 10 of the 14 Texas Education Agency career clusters with 27 pathways leading to industry-based certifications. We are continually working to expand our CTE programs, especially in areas that address a workforce need in the Gulf Coast Region, are linked to industry-based certifications, and provide partnership or internship experiences for our students,” said Dr. Melissa Everett, Director of Career and Technical Education in Dickinson ISD.
Everett said Dickinson High School will be implementing an Imaging Technology program at the campus in 2023-2024, and she is researching the possibilities of adding Culinary Arts, Firefighting, Maritime, and Cybersecurity in the future.
Toi, Victoria, and Aracely are benefitting from the Dental Health Science and Pharmacy Technician courses at Dickinson High School, which are part of the Health Science pathway. This has been a four-year process which started with basic courses in Health Science as a freshman and sophomore before moving into the more career-specific dental and pharmacy practicum courses as juniors and seniors.
As part of the senior-level practicum course, students divide their time between classroom instruction and hands-on experience working directly with a community healthcare partner. Classrooms are set up with the equipment and tools similar to what student’s see in an actual healthcare provider’s office. Dental chairs with a replica of a patient’s mouth and a mock pharmacy with prescriptions are just some of the items incorporated into the classroom. After several weeks of learning how the equipment works, students transition into the workplaceto learn alongside healthcare professionals. In the dental classes, partnerships are available with League City Family Dentistry, Texas City Family Dentistry, Citrus Dental in Texas City, Bacliff Dental, and League City Pediatrics, while the pharmacy students have onsite opportunities at several Walgreens and CVS locations, and at Sullivan’s Pharmacy in Bacliff.
“I learn better with hands-on experience and the muscle memory of doing the steps I’m taught,” said Goffney, who visits League City Family Dentistry two days a week to learn alongside Lead Dental Assistant Joann Miller.
Goffney enjoys working with teeth and likes it because it is different than regular nursing fields. She plans to attend the pre-dental program at Texas Women’s University to major in dental hygiene. She started her internship at League City Family Dentistry at the end of the first semester and has learned about the proper ways to set up and clean up rooms for the practice’s dental hygienists and how to use the sterilizing equipment.
“The Dental Health Practicum course gives students the opportunity to experience the dental field, so they can decide if they want to further their education before investing money into the career choice,” said Dental Health teacher Jenna Ryder.
Ryder said the nine students in her dental practicum class learn the basics of tooth numbering and the sterilization process, while getting comfortable working in someone else’s mouth. She added that a student taking the course through a college or trade school could expect to spend anywhere from $10,000-$15,000, so having the opportunity to take the course and certification exam while in high school is a huge financial savings for the students and their families.
Miller loves helping the students learn everything to need to know about working in a dental office and assisting the dental hygienists.
“This is their opportunity to decide if this is a career they want and what type of dentistry they would like to do. It gets their foot in the door without the cost normally associated with attending the program after graduation,” said Miller. “They get the experience and also references working with the hygienists and the dentists.”
In Pharmacy, teacher Lacey Jackson has 12 health science practicum students, who have all been placed with internship opportunities, including two in paid positions. Jackson said the course covers 200 of the most common medications; teaches important job skills in professionalism, interviewing and customer service; filling and interpreting prescriptions; and other pharmacy technician job duties. The students’ complete online modules through the National Healthcare Association, which are all part of the process to prepare for the state exam, which is given in April.
“Once students earn their certification, they can find jobs right out of high school making $18-$19 an hour. Some of these businesses will even help with higher education expenses and opportunities to grow within the company. They can also use their certification as a stepping stone into something else they may want to pursue in the healthcare field, such as nursing,” said Jackson.
Healthcare is something that has always interested Pena. She explored veterinary medicine and pediatrics before deciding to work toward her pharmacy technician certification. She said working at Walgreens teaches her patience, how to control how you speak with patients, and provides her valuable experience in the pharmacy.
However, her interest in healthcare, and pharmacy, comes from a more personal experience. Pena’s grandmother passed away during her junior year from brain cancer and while she fought the disease for two years, Pena helped her mom with taking care of her grandma’s medications and making her meals.
“My future career is dedicated to my grandmother,” said Pena. “After graduation, I want to attend college at either Samford University in Alabama or the University of Houston to pursue a medical degree specializing in oncology.”
These students will be one step closer to their career goals once they successfully complete their course, pass their certification exams in April, and walk across the high school graduation stage in May. No matter what the future holds, their work during high school will put them on the right track to a career in a healthcare field.