At Powell High School, students like Ivy Agee can try their hand in the medical field. They earn certifications, scrub in, and observe various medical settings, all in the hopes of figuring out what they want to do with their lives.

For junior Ivy Agee, who already has a good idea of what interests her, this means spending some time at 1st Choice Imaging on North Bent Street in Powell, where she can observe the imaging process patients. On slow days she reviews past scans and X-rays with Jael Fisher.

“I think I’ve kind of just always been interested in the health care field, but then I went on a field trip to 1st Choice in one of, like, my freshman or sophomore classes, and I thought this was actually really cool,” Agee said. “I’m not a fan of like, all the gory, gross stuff, like what my mom does … and I was like, ‘This is kind of something that I won’t have to deal with all of that.’”

Agee’s mom works as a nurse practitioner at One Health in Powell, prior to that she worked at an Oregon hospital.

Out of everything Agee has witnessed she said ultrasounds are her favorite, particularly OB scans, which are used to monitor growing babies. 

Agee was highlighted in January by an Ignite Wyoming campaign that showcases K-12 education in Wyoming. Agee was able to share her story through a short Facebook video.

Agee and a handful of other students are part of the Career Technical Education Pathway at Powell High School. Her teacher, Kandi Bennett, said the pathway consists of three foundations that include learning fundamental skills like CPR and First Aid, learning about health care occupations (which includes field trips and visits from professionals) and finally field experience.

“For two years, we did these immersion days, which are really cool and that’s when Ivy was like, ‘Oh, I really think I like radiology,’” Bennett said. 

The pathways are about helping students figure out what they might want to do through training and class activities as well as field experience. 

Last semester Agee, was able to stay solely at 1st Choice but now she splits her time between 1st Choice and Powell Valley Healthcare.

In prior years students used to stick with one person or field for the entire semester but this year students rotate through departments at PVHC, under the direction of Cassie Tinsley, human resources director at PVHC.

“What she does is sets a schedule so they do … like OB, and they do cardio, and she’s got them all set up rotating through, which is really neat,” Bennett said.

For students like Agee, splitting time between the hospital and something like 1st Choice allows the students to stay in their area of interest for a longer amount of time, Tinsley said. 

This semester Tinsley coordinates roughly 17 students, 10 with the CTE program and seven through Powell High’s work experience program. 

“One of the thing’s Kandi Bennett’s program offers is it allows the students to get, like, CPR certification. [Some of the students] are going to be taking the CNA class on the second part of the semester,” Tinsley said. “So the first part of the semester they did on the job shadowing and different areas for nursing, and then the students are going to get their CNA license by the end of the semester, which is great.”

Bennett encourages students to take CNA regardless of the health care path they’re interested in, because it teaches students a different level of caring for patients and a better understanding of what nurses and CNAs do.

Bennett also likes students to take anatomy and physiology and chemistry at Powell High School before heading into higher level college classes.

While in anatomy and physiology, Agee was able to connect her classroom learning to her radiology experience in real time.

“She’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, we’re doing this in anatomy and phys and now I know, like, where that is,’” Bennett recalled. “She was totally making those connections.”

By rotating students through, students are exposed to more than just nursing, Tinsley said, as in addition to observing things like medical, surgery and OBGYN, they also get to observe pharmacy and radiology. 

Students’ ideas of what they want to be can change.

One student thought he wanted to go into pharmacy, Bennett remebered,until he shadowed in imaging. After that he thought he may want to work in ambulance.

“Students learn if they like it or if they don’t before start pursuing further education,” Tinsley said, adding, “It  allows the students to ask actual nurses and actual, you know, radiology techs, what do they like about the job? What don’t they like about the job? There’s pros and cons on everything.”