Fridays at Northeast
Launch the media gallery 1 playerElgin Public School is participating in the Fridays at Northeast program this school year. Fridays at Northeast is an opportunity for high school seniors to take dual credit coursework on Fridays at the Northeast Community College campus, utilizing Northeast’s lab spaces and classrooms.
This year, Leslie Nichols and Mary Nichols are utilizing the opportunity.
Leslie had this to say about the opportunity: “It is a good program that give you the opportunity to experience a bit of college before you graduate.”
School Counselor, Sonia Rittscher, agreed, “One of the selling points of the program and its continued support by EPS is that the program is a good transition piece for students. It gets them on a college campus and allows students to experience a college classroom setting with college professors.”
Leslie took the Nurses Aide course in the Fall of 2018. This course is designed to meet the Nebraska Health and Human Services System training requirement for nurse aide certification and employment in long-term care facilities. Upon completion of this course, the student is eligible to take the state written and practical skills exam. Upon passing the exam, the student’s name will be placed on the basic nurse aide registry at the Nebraska Health and Human Services Regulation and Licensure, Credentialing Division.
Leslie is currently taking Medication Aide course. This course is designed to prepare the student to assume the role and responsibilities of a Medication Aide working in a nursing facility. This course includes information regarding medication administration, pharmacology rules and regulations, classification of drugs, orders, storage, abbreviations, and an overview of commonly used drugs and documentation.
Leslie described a typical class meeting: “Normally, the first thing we do would be to go over the last week’s assignment and go over any questions if there were any. We would then take the quiz over the chapter we worked on the week before. After everyone takes their quiz, we would go over the next chapter and get our assignment. If it was a day we were to be in lab, we would walk to the lab (just down the hall) and work in the lab for some of the time, if not all of that class.”
“Northeast’s campus has more to offer than a typical high school to students like Leslie, who are interested in a health career. In Northeast’s labs, Leslie can work with actual health care tools and instruments in addition to simulations and other instructional devices,” said School Counselor, Sonia Rittscher.
Mary Nichols also travels to Northeast’s campus on Fridays. Mary’s coursework reflects one of her interests, which is to become a veterinary technician. She is enrolled in Animal Science and a lab.
Mary said that her class time depends on the weather: “Well each Friday is different, depending on the weather: If weather is nice then we will have our class inside and then go outside to work with the animals on the farm. If it is cold outside then we will spend the whole time inside and work on our assignments.”
Mary’s course is an introduction to the livestock industry and its role in food production, breeds and selection, reproduction and breeding systems, inheritance and genetics, shelter and facility requirements, nutrition, parasites and insects, diseases, and other aspects of meat, milk, wool, and poultry production.
Her course includes a lab that she’ll gain experience working with all types of livestock at the college farm, which includes branding, castration, vaccination, foot care, and semen collection.
When asked if she would recommend other EPS students taking advantage of Fridays at Northeast, Mary responded, “Yes. There are a lot of courses that students can choose from that may be interesting to them. Also, it will allow them to obtain college credits so they will be ahead in their first year.”
“The Fridays at Northeast opportunity is available to any area school, and I’m thankful that the EPS administration supports it,” commented Sonia Rittscher. “It does take coordination, including students having to make-up missed work and getting them safely to and from Norfolk. In addition to being very thankful to Mr. Polk for getting them to and from campus, I’m also thankful that the teachers for their willingness to make it work for our students.”