Parkway Lands BJC Medical Studies for High School Seniors

Thirteen high school seniors in are the first to join a new medical course of study linked with Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital that will run the full school year several days a week.

Parkway's Board of Education approved the program Wednesday night in a regular meeting, after a Parkway coordinator developed the partnerships for more than a year. 

Parkway district high school seniors-to-be applied for the medical-related study, and were required to commit for a full school year, a district spokeswoman said.

Students will start school 2-3 days a week at Corporate College of St. Louis Community College for 2.5 hours of instruction by a Special School District teacher

After that, students spend another period of time at Barnes-Jewish hospital facility on Olive Boulevard, in the Creve Coeur area. Students would observe procedures and other medical protocol.

The program begins in the 2012-13 school year. Students in the medical program would attend regular classes at their home high school on the alternate days and hours that they are not in medicine.

The notion would be to expose students to a range of fields, topics and careers in the health care industry.

Credit for the medical courses would be similar to other high school courses.

For the coming year, 13 students were accepted into this inaugural program, and all 13 attend Parkway South High School—officials said that may have come about because one counselor at South was more familiar with the new program.

But all high school seniors in the Parkway district would be eligible, should the program continue, and expand.

More information will be available from Jennifer Standfill, coordinator of career education and partnerships, for the Parkway district.

The partners in the program are BJC Healthcare, St. Louis Community College-Corporate College, Special School District, and Parkway.

Corporate College of St. Louis Community College is located in Bridgeton, near the intersection of Interstate Highways 270 and 70, on McKelvey Road.

Parkway South High School is located on Hanna Road in Manchester, in the center of a quadrant bounded by Highway 141 and Sulphur Spring Road, Manchester Road and Big Bend Road.