A new partnership between Adams-Friendship Area School District, Emplify Health by Gundersen Friendship and Mid-State Technical College provides a pathway for students to take college-level courses and gain hands-on experience in a variety of medical roles.

It’s called the Health Career Academy (HCA), and the 2024-25 school year was the first cohort of students to complete the one-semester program. During that time, they took a class in medical terminology at the high school, as well as a human body in health and disease course at the Mid-State campus in Adams.

“The Health Career Academy is an incredible opportunity for students to explore their passion for healthcare while gaining real-world experience and college credits,” said Jackie Esselman, Dean, Recruitment & Admissions, Mid-State Technical College Wisconsin Rapids. “By providing hands-on learning in a local medical setting, we’re not only preparing students for their future careers but also strengthening the healthcare workforce in our communities.”

Successful completion of the program, which includes attending job experience events, job shadows and tours at Emplify Health by Gundersen Friendship, earns students a Healthcare Foundations certificate. Just as important, they’ll have jumpstarted their post-secondary education even before earning their high school diploma.

In 2021, access to care was identified as one of Adams County’s health need priorities through what’s known as a county health needs assessment. It was determined that recruitment and retention of the healthcare workforce was essential to maintain and improve access to care.

That led Emplify Health by Gundersen Friendship to adopt a “grow your own” approach, which is an effort to expose middle and high school students to different healthcare careers, in hopes that they’ll pursue healthcare education after high school and return to work in their hometown.

Lab manager Becky Craig says programs like the HCA are “huge” when it comes to fulfilling the needs of a rural hospital.

“Otherwise, these kids don’t know what some of these jobs are, and it’s a lot easier to get people to stay than it is to recruit in certain areas of the hospital,” she said.

There were 10 students enrolled in the first HCA, and that was encouraging to high school science teacher Jim Vance.

“A lot of kids in this area think, what does this area have to offer?” Vance said. “There’s a hospital sitting right here that they could work for.”

Vance says the gravitation toward science classes at the school has gotten a lot stronger recently, and that’s helped programs like the HCA become something students are interested in.

Addison Kolls is one such student. In addition to the HCA, she enrolled in the medical assistant program at Mid-State, and if all goes as planned, she hopes to use her education in a clinical or hospital setting.

Kolls said she’d be open to working in a rural hospital like Emplify Health by Gundersen Friendship because it’s a lifeline to people who don’t have access to care in larger cities or the ability to always pay for their care.