Nursing Student Empowers High Schoolers
The Ponitz Pipeline is a program that matches students in the Ponitz Career Technology Center with mentors at Kettering College. The mentors show students the range of possibilities of careers in healthcare as well as discussing life skills to help develop habits that will help them succeed.
Students in the allied health program begin to visualize themselves as healthcare professionals one day as they work with their mentors. They see others who look like them and who might share similar experiences, and the students start to believe in themselves.
Danielle Brown is a nursing student at Kettering College and recent inductee into the nursing international honor society. She recently empowered students in the Ponitz Pipeline to feel excited to keep following their dreams with grit and hard work. She did this by speaking from her heart. She gave them helpful information, but also shared her personal story as an example that success is possible if you commit to it.
She talked to the high school students about how to find the college or university that best fits their career and personal goals; what information they should have prepared to apply to a college or university; resources to find financial assistance to fund their education; and the long-term benefits of pursuing a degree and career in healthcare.
The students were fully engaged as Danielle spoke and fielded their questions. She gave advice on how to make the successful transition from a high school student with dreams and ambitions to a college student and graduate who has fulfilled those dreams and ambitions. The group talked about what it takes to stay focused and motivated through inevitable challenging experiences in life.
The Ponitz Pipeline program was created to build into students interested in healthcare and show them options and resources for their future. Pam Wilson, the program coordinator, notes she intentionally searches for speakers whom she knows the students will believe and trust. She says, “I continue to seek out students from the community who chose Kettering College. I feel that it is important that students see and relate with someone who looks like them. This can help them ignite their dreams and aspirations.”
As Danielle explained to the students that she will be working at Kettering Health when she graduates soon, Pam says, “That was a full-circle moment for me. It was like a light bulb went off.” Pam walked alongside Danielle when she was a high school student with a goal to be a nurse. She watched Daniele grow from having big dreams to now living big dreams, thanks to her hard work and a community who cheered her on.
Who better to tell students it is possible than someone who is living proof that it is?
Print This Page