“Something I’d like you to do as you’re going about this conference, is picture yourself as a college student,” said UNC Asheville Provost Joe Urgo in his opening remarks at MAHEC’s 17th Annual Health Careers Education Awareness Conference.
“It starts by imagining you’re doing it.”
The conference and career fair, held at UNC Asheville on Oct. 11, high school students, parents and educators were asked to imagine the future they desired—and then shown how they might take their first steps.
More than 280 high school students from around Western North Carolina, and their parents and teachers, gathered at UNC Asheville’s Sherrill Center for a health care career fair and conference, featuring breakout sessions with local health care professionals. The conference gave students the chance to learn about a variety of opportunities available to them, from education and financial aid resources to future career options.
Urgo invited the students to picture themselves as a history major attending a lecture on the history of health care in the United States since colonial times, or a philosophy major studying the effects of mindfulness on health.
“There are so many different paths you can take to go into health care,” Urgo said. “You might think it’s all biology and chemistry, and those are important, but we have history majors and English majors and art majors and music majors, all of whom are targeting health care professions at some point in their life.”
The career fair gave students the chance to explore those health care professions and speak to those currently working in the field—and many from careers the students didn’t expect, from acupuncturist to cardiovascular nurse to radiology technician.
“High school students aren’t as familiar with the diversity of careers in health care,” explained Jacquelyn Hallum, a UNC Asheville alumna and director of health careers and diversity education at MAHEC. “They only recognize normally the types of practitioners that they’ve gone to as a child. We’re trying to expose them to opportunities, so they can ask questions, and ask the different health care professionals about their jobs so they can be more informed.”
And it’s not just the students that benefit, Hallum said. “We have a shortage of health care professionals, particularly in Western North Carolina and the rural communities.” Helping students become those health care professionals in the future is vital to the health of their communities, Hallum explained.
“So this conference is not only about health careers, it’s also about financial aid, leadership, diversity in health care,” Hallum said. “Each piece gives kids opportunities they might not have thought existed.”