Right now, New Castle Career Center Health Science Education seniors have one big thing on their mind: graduation. It’s finally their turn to walk across the stage and receive their diploma. As they say goodbye to high school they have the opportunity to begin their next chapter at Ivy Tech Community College.

The New Castle Career Center has worked with Ivy Tech to ensure students can easily transfer credits there. After graduating from high school, Health Science Education students have the opportunity to begin the Nursing Program as a direct admission. This means that if they complete the prerequisites for the nursing program and are able to score high enough on the TEAS test (Test of Essential Academic Skills, designed to assess a student’s preparedness to enter a health science field) they will begin nursing school immediately.

Twelve students committed to attending Ivy Tech Community College after graduation. These students will study a variety of subjects including nursing, exercise science, and radiology. Along with a variety of career studies, the students will be attending a mixture of Ivy Tech campuses as well.

Joplin Clements, of New Castle High School, plans to attend Muncie Ivy Tech in the fall. After studying to receive her RN, she hopes to become a wound care nurse. Several factors led Clements to choose Ivy Tech.

 “It’s really affordable. I also love the small campus and the student to teacher ratio,” she said. “It makes it a lot more personable.”

Both David Peck (Knightstown High School) and Gage Taylor (Hagerstown High School) had the same idea when they chose Ivy Tech. They loved that it was close to home and affordable in respect to other nursing programs. Peck and Taylor found a passion for nursing during their clinical visits and this led to their decision to continue on to nursing school.

“I suggest Ivy Tech to my students because you can’t beat the affordability and the opportunities they have,” Lainey Millikan, Health Science Education Instructor noted. “Students have the ability to immediately begin the nursing program, and it really is a great starting place if you want to continue on to receive a BSN or NP.”