Science and Health Immersion Program

• In Event: 29.036 - Building the Latino Pipeline for Medical Careers: The Hispanic Center of Excellence Experience

Abstract

Data from the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) show that the Rockford Public School District (RPS 205) and the Belvidere Community Unit School District 100 (CUSD 100) fall behind State levels in regards to college readiness, graduation rates, and post-secondary enrollment. ISBE data also highlight significant achievement gaps in mathematics, reading and science between Latino and non-Latino students at RPS 205, CUSD 100, and at the State level.
Program goal and objectives: The Science and Health Immersion Program (SHIP) is an in-school program, which aims to enrich and enhance the knowledge and skills for rural Latino high school students from the RPS 205 and the CUSD 100, utilizing a culturally competent approach. The objectives are to: 1) Expose participants to multiple health careers and career pathways; 2) Provide participants foundations to successfully perform in college admissions tests and college entry-level courses; 3) Prepare and mentor cohort senior participants in the college application and admissions process; 4) Motivate participants to ultimately pursue a health career; and 5) Encourage participants to return to their own communities upon completion of their higher education and serve the underserved.
SHIP builds on the strengths of the Rural Medicina Academy (RMA). RMA is a culturally competent, evidenced-based health careers pipeline program providing school-based and summer internship programs for high school students. The RMA is grounded on Paulo Freire's Dialogical Education model, a framework in which individuals are empowered to play an active role in the problem identification and solving process. Empowerment becomes the means as well as the ultimate outcome. Freire's model has been an effective health education and prevention model and can be thus applied to empower URM youth to pursue higher education, and ultimately, a career in healthcare.
SHIP is implemented by a multidisciplinary team which includes health professions students from the College of Medicine-Rockford (UI-R) Rural Medical Education (RMED), College of Pharmacy, and Medical Biotechnology programs. Students serve as instructors, role models, and mentors who provide a positive and engaging classroom learning experiences. SHIP curriculum covers four components: 1) Exploring Health Professions & Health Sciences; 2) Public Health; 3) Professional Skills Development; and 4) College Prep. Each is covered by means of carefully developed age-appropriate activities.
SHIP was pilot-tested at an RPS 205 school with a 67% graduation rate, an extremely low college readiness rate (18%), and where Latinos represent 36% of the student population. The pilot was an eight-week in-class program targeting students enrolled in a "Medical Terminology" class. Among total enrolled students (n = 33), half were Latino (50%) and 15% were African-American. SHIP pilot program evaluations showed that it successfully 1) exposes participants to health career pathways, 2) provides foundations to successfully perform at the undergraduate level, and 3) motivates participants to pursue a health career. The majority of participants (96% n=26) recommended SHIP. Furthermore, participants requested more college prep (27%), extending program length (23%), and more hands on science activities (23%).

Author

• Natalia Suarez-Montero, University of Illinois at Chicago