retire in the next decade. The assets within the medical community are
starting to prepare, and that includes outreach to low-income students.
The Commonwealth Medical College,
which opened in Scranton in 2009, is launching a program next spring to
introduce underserved local students to the myriad careers in health
care.
“We have a very high student population that not only
qualifies under the guidelines, but would be the first generation to go
to college,” says Ida L. Castro, the college’s VP of social justice and
diversity.
“These are the students that have the aptitude, but haven’t been able to visualize the opportunity.”
Using
federal grants totaling more than $2 million over the next three years,
the medical school plans to partner with high schools and colleges to
run programs introducing students to medical careers. The programs will
be targeted at low-income students, using federal poverty guidelines.
The Regional Education Academy for Careers in Science Higher Education Initiative
(REACH-HEI), appropriately pronounced “reach high,” will include
programs giving high school students chances to do lab research and
shadow health care workers on the job. There will also be programs for
interested students at local colleges and low-income students who are
about to start at the medical school.
Another program will reward high school students who continue to Luzerne County Community College and finish their bachelor’s degrees at Misericordia University.
Misericordia graduates who take part in REACH-HEI, earn a 3.5
grade-point average and score of at least 30 on the Medical College
Admission Test will receive a $15,000 scholarship to The Commonwealth
Medical College.
Organizers hope to serve about 160 students a year and entice them to stay close to home.
Source: Ida L. Castro, The Commonwealth Medical College
Writer: Rebecca VanderMeulen
