ACC Gives High School Students Head Start on Nursing Career

The Austin Community College District and the Capital Area Health Education Center (AHEC) are teaming up to give high school students a head start on a nursing career. The organizations will host a nursing academy Friday, May 13, at ACC’s Eastview Campus.

More than 60 students from nine area high schools will take part in the free event. They will have opportunities to interact with ACC nursing students and faculty as well as participate in activities with training mannequins.

“This is a wonderful way to promote opportunities in healthcare to the next generation of the workforce,” says Pat Recek, assistant dean of health sciences for ACC. “Nursing is a rewarding career with excellent job prospects, and ACC provides an affordable pathway into the profession.”

This is ACC and AHEC’s final academy of the school year. The program is funded through a U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration Nursing Workforce Diversity Grant awarded to the college in 2009.

“The academy gives high school students resources to make informed decisions about a career in nursing,” says Ashley King, senior program coordinator for AHEC. “From practicing nursing procedures to learning about qualifications and nursing degree plans, participants get experience on a variety of levels.”

ACC offers an associate degree nursing (RN) program and a certificate in vocational nursing. In the 2009-10 academic year, ACC graduated 271 associate degree nursing students and 62 vocational nursing students. The college’s nursing students consistently excel at national licensure exams. In the most recent testing year, 98 percent of ACC associate degree nursing graduates passed the licensure exam (October 2009-September 2010). Among vocational nursing graduates, the pass rate was 97 percent (January-December 2010).

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