Kingston - It was a time for reflection and celebration for past Ulster BOCES students, as well as current ones, who are preparing to graduate from high schools across Ulster County this month as they joined together for the very first Ulster BOCES New Visions Health Career Exploration program’s high school reunion.
To mark the end of the school year and successful career training in the healthcare field - as well as to celebrate the retiring of Ulster BOCES instructor Taylor Klose, who has worked with the New Visions students for many years - students and teachers joined together at Benedictine Hospital in Kingston for the commemorative event, which was coordinated by New Visions Health Career instructor Joseph Huben. The soon-to-be graduates were joined by visiting former New Visions Health Career students who now reside and work in the healthcare field around the globe - from Montreal, Canada to Albany Medical Center to a Caribbean medical school in Grenada!
Sister Dorothy Huggard, director of pastoral care for Benedictine Hospital, has witnessed the growth of this year’s class. "I love their energy and willingness to learn," says Huggard. "They came in at the beginning of this year without experience and I’ve been able to watch them blossom." According to Huben, Huggard’s wisdom in nurturing the "whole patient" - mind, body, and spirit - plays a valuable role in helping students understand one of the many important facets of medical care.
Rondout Valley High School senior Sonia Narvaez says she entered the Ulster BOCES New Visions Health Career Exploration program this year with rudimentary knowledge of hospitals, and is leaving with a well-informed decision on what medical field she plans to enter after college. "I came in with the mindset I wanted to be a surgeon, but discovered the climate is too sterile for my personality. I enjoy more patient contact and like developing those relationships," says Narvaez. After working in nearly every area of the hospital, Narvaez believes a career as an obstetrician/gynecologist will best suit her. "The maternity ward brings out the best in me," Narvaez says. "It’s a beautiful feeling to be able to witness bringing a new life into the world."
As part of her New Visions internship, Narvaez was able to witness eight live births. Along with classmate Nitisha Shah, a Kingston High School senior, Narvaez also worked on a birth plan for a Benedictine Hospital patient. "We completed a case study on this mother, and now we still visit her and her child every week," says Shah of the experience.
"I get to work with the smartest, most aggressive, and most competitive students in Ulster County," declared Huben at the event. "One of the parents said at a recent Open House that, ‘You are throwing these kids in the deep end of the pool,’" Huben says. "I told her, ‘You are right, but they said they could swim, and they certainly can!"
The New Visions Health Career Exploration program is an opportunity for college-bound high school seniors to make informed career choices by working closely with doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other healthcare professionals as they are engaged in real life experiences. Internship opportunities include operating and delivery rooms, administrative offices, radiology departments, emergency rooms, veterinary offices, chiropractic offices, and dentist offices, as well as forensic crime labs.
