The students of the Health Science Technology program go to Cedar Park Regional Medical Center to shadow nurses and doctors, get the chance to become certified Pharmacy Technicians, and get to become CPR certified. Through their class, every first and second period, they get to gain experience and knowledge that they may not get elsewhere.

“It’s an invaluable experience. They are getting to go out and see the things that they’re just reading about in the classroom,” HST teacher Kelly Tingle said. “Sometimes it’s a different experience. It gives them the chance to observe a variety of health professions and may help them to see a variety of paths in what they want or, more importantly, don’t want.”

For three months of the school year the students get to put on their uniforms, scrubs and take a bus to Cedar Park Regional Medical Center.

“Scrubs are very comfortable and easy,” senior Miranda Flores said. “They’re comfortable. You don’t have to think about the outfit; it’s very uniform. Formal attire is scrubs there. No business suite or a tie, just scrubs.”

The students get to go to around 23 rotations in the hospital throughout from their three hours of clinical rotations a day. Every time they go, it’s a different rotation. Some of the places they go include Labor and Delivery, Emergency, Medical Surgery, Intensive Care Unit, and Cardiac Catheterization.

“When I went to cardiac catheterization, I walked in where they were looking at a person’s heart. I was watching his vital signs,” Flores said. “It was really cool to watch them take a wire to his heart, and it was cool to see the ventricles work when they put fluid into them.”

Cedar Park Regional Medical Center also gets a benefit off of having the class there.

“It provides students an opportunity to see the various healthcare settings that are available to them,” Tingle said. “They hope that at some point these students will return as an employee. It’s an investment for them for giving back to the community.”

When they’re not interning at the hospital, the students get to learn how to do other things. They gain the knowledge they need to pass the test to become a Pharmacy Technician. The summer they graduate, they can take the Pharmacy Technician test and pass it for their certification.

“Working as a Pharmacy Technician is a great career path as an end goal. If you have aspirations for another field, it provides a great knowledge base that many don’t have.It provides a great experience,” Tingle said. “You’ve actually worked in that area, it’s a good income, and a pretty good working environment. It’s knowledge you’re going to use in this path.”

The students also get to experience a family-like setting where they can be comfortable with each other and the teacher.

“We all had a similar interest and classes because of our interest in the medical field,” Flores said. “We all are basically a family. Right from the beginning we clicked. We went to restaurants together at the beginning and took Grey’s Anatomy photos. It’s a lot of bonding. It’s so much fun.”

Many schools have varied versions of this program. Cedar Park High School gets to become certified in Phlebotomy and Certified Nursing Assistants. Rouse and Leander get to do Medical Assisting. Vista HST students get to become certified Pharmacy Techs after graduation. All of these classes also have their own form of clinical rotations.

“I think it’s just the neatest thing of seeing students in the clinical setting is seeing a spark from them when they’re really enjoying themselves,” Tingle said.

The students also get CPR certified in the class, learn how to take vital signs and many other things.

“We get certified in CPR which is really helpful because we can help in times of need, times of disaster,” Flores said. “Being in the medical field is emotion and science. The medical field is the cross between those. It’s great to know you aren’t doing it for yourself, that it’s for someone else.”