CINCINNATI — More than a dozen Cincinnati Public High School students are getting a unique opportunity with Greater Cincinnati Health System Tri-Health. The $15 million effort is an apprenticeship program called School to Work and it aims to encourage CPS students to pursue a career in health care.
“I knew that I kind of liked something in health,” said former apprentice Benya Coleman. “So when this program came, it was amazing. It was right on time.”
Coleman is now a first year pre-med student at the University of Cincinnati. Coleman says she would have never thought take the medical route had it not been for her time as an apprentice at Good Samaritan Hospital.
“I did see a lot of nurses that worked closely with babies,” said Coleman. “That just gave me a little bit more of insight of ‘yah I do want to work with babies, I do want to work with moms.”
The apprenticeship allows high school students to work along side coaches in a two year rotation. They rotate quarterly across clinical and support departments within Good Samaritan Hospital, all while earning a paycheck and high school credit.
“To be with them for those two years and watching them grow.” said program manager Michael Jones. “Some of them want to be nurses and some want to be doctors. After they go to some of those different departments that start realizing ‘this is what I want to do instead.”
The health system was able to secure a $15 million endowment to continue the program for years to come. Jeremiah Kirkland, president and chief operating officer of Good Samaritan Hospital, is a graduate of the Rochester Youth Apprenticeship program in Rochester NY. He brought the concept to Greater Cincinnati in 2018. Kirkland sees the program as a way to help diversify the medical field.
Benya Coleman agrees… “A lot of people of color, women like me want to be nurses,” she said. “I feel like we should strive to be doctors. It is difficult. I can tell you that right now. Pre-med first year it is difficult but I’m feeling really confident.”
Kirkland says the goal is to grow the program’s enrollment to about 50 high school students each recruitment class. Currently there are 21 students.
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