New Castle Career Center’s Health Science Education program strives to ensure students get the maximum benefit from their education. Students participating in this program experience a multitude of health-related instruction including human anatomy and physiology, medical terminology, CPR, and practical skills. Students leave this program ready to pursue a degree in a health care field with a few college credits under their belt.

Because of the practical benefits of Health Science program, the number of students applying continues to grow each year. For the 2019-20 school year, the class size has expanded by 20 more seats, now allowing 80 students to participate in the program. With more students attending, more resources will be needed to make the program helpful for each student.

New Castle Career Center instructors Angie Talbott and Lainey Millikan bundled a mini-grant from the East Indiana Area Health Education Center with donations from community funding partners to arrange for the purchase of a new Hill-Rom hospital bed. Soon after that bed arrived, the program heard more good news: Ivy Tech was giving them three additional Hill-Rom beds. All four of the new beds are more accurate to what students will experience in a hospital setting than the beds they had originally.

 “The new beds are so much quicker than the ones we currently are using, and their functionality is what we are most excited about,” noted Angie Talbott, Health Science Instructor. “The new Hill-Rom bed has degree markers on the sides, so students can see that they have the bed exactly where it needs to be. Additionally, having more beds will give them the opportunity to have more hands-on experience. Currently we have at least six students per bed during practical work, and now we can have less students per bed, making their time more useful.”

The students are enthusiastic about the experiences made possible by the additional beds. Class President Anna Shafer (Hagerstown High School) shared, “These beds will prep us for actual career-related experiences. I’m so excited to have more time to learn skills now that we will have less people per bed.” Her classmate Emily Adams (Knightstown High School) added, “I aided in putting together the old beds and it was so difficult. The bars underneath didn’t make a ton of sense, and I’m very excited to have new beds to learn with.”

Jeannie Hamblin-Fox, Henry County Site Director with Ivy Tech, was instrumental in the Career Center receiving the three beds from Ivy Tech. Henry Community Health recently donated 10 beds to Ivy Tech, which then gave Ivy Tech the ability to gift three to the Career Center. Fox is thankful for the opportunity to share the beds with the Center, referring to this exchange as the “circle of life” for a hospital bed.

For more information about the Health Science Education Program, visit https://nccareercenter.org/program/health-science-education/

Workforce. Talk to most any business owner, and the need for a prepared workforce is often the topic of conversation. The Governor’s Work Ethic Certificate Program aims to address this need by preparing students with the soft skills needed to succeed in the workplace.

As the Work Ethic/Work Ready Coordinator at the New Castle Career Center, Todd York strives to inspire students to achieve the Governor’s Work Ethic Certification. The students that earn the certification demonstrate that they possess qualities of persistence, respectfulness, initiative, dependability, and efficiency.

The Work Ethic/Work Ready program experienced exponential growth in the past year. During the 2017-18 school year, 858 students signed up for the program. During the 2018-19 school year, that number nearly doubled to 1,563 students. The Work Ethic/Work Ready serves the following school systems: Anderson Preparatory Academy, Blue River Valley, Charles A Beard, Eastern Hancock, Nettle Creek, New Castle, Shenandoah, South Henry, and Union.

Requirements for the certification include community service hours, maintaining a cumulative GPA of 2.0 or higher, have no more than one discipline referral for a minor incident, and maintain 98% attendance and have no more than four times of arriving to school late or leaving early each year.

 “Attendance issues are usually what disqualifies students,” York noted. “But employers today need to know they have workers who are dedicated to coming to work, so this is vital. Many times, students are staying up too late gaming or on social media. This certificate awards the students who are making positive decisions with their lives.”

The program is designated for students in grades 5 or 6 (depending on which is the highest grade in the elementary school), 8, and 12. Schools participating include Anderson Prep, Blue River Valley, Eastern Hancock, Hagerstown, Knightstown, New Castle Community Schools, Shenandoah, Tri, and Union.

Most students sign up for the program, but only about a third receive the distinction. The award is especially valuable for seniors who are entering the workforce following graduation or even looking for summer work before heading to post-secondary training.

All grade 12 students who receive the distinction are entered into a database which is available to area employers who are registered through the Work Ethic Certification program. These employer partners have agreed to give students with the Work Ethic endorsement one or more of the following benefits: guaranteed job interview, applicant pool preference, tuition reimbursement, flexible scheduling, sign-on bonus, increased base pay, or professional mentoring opportunities.

In addition to the endorsement, students at all levels are motivated by the mid-year pizza party for those eligible at that point. This incentive is supported by the Henry County Community Foundation.

“Without the Foundation, the pizza parties wouldn’t be possible,” York noted. “This year we needed 41 large pizzas and 200 pizza coupons for senior students. We worked with local businesses Mancinos and 1000 Degree Pizza on the pizza parties and coupons.”