One of the most hands-on and unique classes at the State College Area High School is Nurse Aid, a class where students learn everything about care and health, and will provide them with actual experience to go into the workforce or into medical school after graduating.
According to Maryanne Neal, a teacher of the Nurse Aid class, she recommends some classes to take before Nurse Aid.
“So I think for students, they have to take the language of medicine because they need to understand the vocabulary of health care before they go into it, or it seems like a foreign land. We like for them to have anatomy and physiology. It’s not required, but it’s preferred,” Neal said.
Neal also commented on the common misconceptions about the class. Many students think Nurse Aid is strictly for students who want to go into nursing, but that’s actually not the case.
“And I think for a lot of those students, you know, at some point, all of us are also going to be responsible for older family members, and some of those family members may require some of those basic care things at home, and knowing how to do that properly is beneficial, both personally and professionally,” Neal said.
Getting into Nurse Aid isn’t as easy as most courses, however. Students have to apply for a spot.
There are two Nurse Aid teachers, who can each be responsible for 10 students, so only 20 students can take the class at a time. One of those students, senior Ella Rulon, gave some perspective on the students’ perspective of the class.
“It’s basically just a class where they teach you on like the role [of a nurse], which is a lot of hands-on care with older adults or people in need of intensive care. So we help them walk, we feed them, we change their linens, we help them go to the bathroom and stuff like that. It’s a whole year everyday from 8 a.m. to 10:16 a.m. and then you have a state exam at the end of the year that decides whether you get a certification or not,” Rulon said.
According to Neal, students of the class have to sit through 16 total hours of required education before they can even be allowed to go to clinical, which is the state law in Pennsylvania. Some of the things taught in those 16 hours include body language, hygiene and how to interact with people in different situations.
After they go through the education, they can go into the clinics and help serve some of the patients.
Neal described some of her favorite things about the class. “Watching them grow through that process and become pretty confident young people that you know at the end of the course, in May, when they graduate, they can walk right in and start delivering care, whether that would be in a nursing home or at the hospital, You know, and they feel like they’ve got the foundation they need to be able to do that and grow from that point on, too. Is probably the best part,” she said.
Rulon had also stated that the class was super enjoyable and that if anyone is interested in taking the class, they should take it.
“This is probably the hardest part, so if you don’t like this or if you absolutely hate it, then you kind of know that medicine is not for you,” Rulon said.
Nurse Aid is one of State High’s most unique class experiences and is a great class to set you up for a future in medicine and care. Remember, for course recommendations in the winter, don’t forget to fill out the required application for the class if interested.
