438 Alexandria Students Step Inside the World of Health-Care Careers

ALEXANDRIA, VA — For hundreds of Alexandria teenagers considering their futures, two days with Inova health-care professionals opened the door to careers they may never have considered.

A total of 438 Alexandria City High School students participated in Inova Days on Oct. 5 and 6, exploring jobs throughout the health-care industry through a series of interactive sessions.

The students are members of the Governor’s Health Sciences Academy at Alexandria City High School, a partnership between Alexandria City Public Schools and the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences.

During the two-day program, students attended 30-minute sessions led by Inova educators and working health-care professionals. Presenters explained what they do each day, the education and training their positions require and the different routes students can take into their fields.

The sessions covered chemotherapy, surgical services, respiratory therapy, rehabilitation, radiology, nursing and entry-level health-care positions. Many students attended more than one specialty session, according to ACPS.

The broad range of topics was important. Although students may already be familiar with doctors and nurses, hospitals depend on teams of specialists working behind the scenes and directly with patients. Inova Days gave Alexandria students an opportunity to learn about some of those less visible careers and ask questions of the people performing them.

The event also helped students connect their current coursework with specific jobs and college programs.

A Head Start on College and Careers

The Governor’s Health Sciences Academy offers pathways in nursing, emergency medical services, surgical technology, sports medicine, medical laboratory sciences and biomedical informatics. Students can begin earning college credits as early as ninth grade and may receive as many as 18 credits through George Washington University.

Depending on their chosen pathway, students may also earn professional credentials such as certified nursing assistant, emergency medical technician, phlebotomy, personal training or sterile-processing certification.

Students who complete an academy pathway and meet the program’s requirements can receive guaranteed admission to participating George Washington University health-sciences programs. Graduates may also enter an entry-level medical position immediately after high school or continue toward an associate degree at Northern Virginia Community College.

Those options can reduce the time and expense required to complete a college degree while giving students practical preparation for fields that need trained employees.

Inova Workforce Development Consultant Vibhuti “Tina” Patel helped coordinate the sessions with Inova professionals. ACPS Work-Based Learning Specialist Sarah Black also helped organize the career-connected experience.

For Alexandria, Inova Days represented more than a traditional career fair. It placed hundreds of local students inside a structured education-to-employment pipeline that could lead to college credit, professional certification and meaningful work in one of the region’s most important industries.

And for students still deciding what comes next, meeting the people who perform these jobs every day may have made the future feel considerably closer.