A key ingredient in any successful youth development program is the presence of reliable and caring adult mentors. I was recently reminded of this when I met with a teacher from Dewey Academy, one of Oakland’s Continuation High Schools. These schools serve high school students who have not been able to succeed in mainstream schools. Students often have serious academic deficits as well as a host of challenges in their personal or family life that put them at high risk of dropping out. HealthPATH created a dedicated internship cohort to serve students from these schools, and the Dewey teacher shared with me that several of his students were not attending school but they were consistently showing up for their internship at Highland Hospital.
Although we want to see students attending school and their internship, it was no mystery why they were regularly coming to the HEAL program. In part the students were more engaged in learning when they could easily see the real-world application of what they were doing, but in large part it had to do with the HEAL instructors, Joseph Peters and Joilah James.
They have both been with the HEAL program for over four years and in that time have supported hundreds of young people. At graduations when students speak about their HEAL experience, they inevitably mention the guidance and encouragement that Joseph and Joilah provided them. They do so much more than teach students about healthcare career options and professional skills; they help students see opportunity and potential in themselves. The HEAL program is fortunate to have such dedicated and talented leaders.