Putnam County Schools will offer students more job shadowing opportunities after approving an agreement with Livingston Regional Hospital.
Putnam County Schools CTE Supervisor Jackie Vester said the agreement will allow Monterey students who are in the Health Science Program to see what real work environments are like. Vester said the partnership with Livingston Regional Hospital is new and was needed.
“Our Health Science Program has grown exponentially in the last couple of years, that we now need a second partner to Cookeville Regional Medical Center, and so fortunately, Livingston Regional Hospital was willing to open up their doors to our students,” Vester said.
Vester said students will go into the Emergency Room or the Labor and Delivery Room. Vester said the job shadowing will provide invaluable real-life experience to the students.
“They are the future of healthcare,” Vester said. “They are the ones that will be taken care of you and I one day, so we want to make sure that we are preparing them to the best of our ability. We have phenomenal teachers in the classroom that are helping them prepare, and now we are able to get them in those real-world scenarios.”
Vester said students typically will job shadow once a week. Vester said the goal is to start sending Monterey students for job shadowing in January. Vester said job shadowing helps students become career-ready out of high school.
“Both hospitals help us with our certified medical assistance,” Vester said. And we are just seeing more students that are seeing the value in that program and earning that certification before graduating high school, so that they can go directly into the workforce that they so choose, or they can work in that industry while they pursue an additional health science certification.”
Vester said it is great to have partnerships with local industry partners who are investing in the future workforce as much as the school system.
