S/o nursing and HS academy

[Anonymous]

The other post about nursing school reminded me to ask this - my 10th grader has expressed an interest in nursing for a few years and has talked about doing the FCPS nursing academy as a jr or sr (it’s a 2 period class at another school). We’ve been reluctant because while we can sort of see her in a nursing career we are a little skeptical that’s going to be what she wants to do. Her other interests are totally different and would probably lean to marketing, media and communications.

Going to nursing school as an undergrad seems sort of limiting to me and we’ve told her we’d rather she gets a different degree and we are happy to pay for one of the 1-2 year postgrad nursing programs if she still wants to do that later.

But the academy could be a way to see if she really is interested..,but my concern is if she’s not, and she’s applying to schools saying she wants to major in business or whatever is the nursing academy going to be a red flag? Does she look all over the place and unfocused?

[Anonymous]

For a few years your child has expressed an interest in nursing, has asked to take the free nursing course thru fcps, and you don’t know if she should bc you’re not sure if you see her doing it as a job…?

Let her do it as a teen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For a few years your child has expressed an interest in nursing, has asked to take the free nursing course thru fcps, and you don’t know if she should bc you’re not sure if you see her doing it as a job…?

Let her do it as a teen.

Well it’s not quite that simple, it’s a two period class at another school so there are also some logistical hurdles and it means she’d probably have to take an extra online class to get all her other classes in.

She’s been trying to do the volunteer thing at inova (although you start out in the gift shop) but it’s a lottery and she hasn’t been selected yet.

We kind of suspect she won’t like it and are worried it will then complicate her college apps for other programs. She’s a solid student probably looking at state flagship type schools.

[Anonymous]

Do students in the nursing academy still take 4 years of all the core subjects?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do students in the nursing academy still take 4 years of all the core subjects?

They can - it can just be for one year and it’s two periods I believe. Because of an elective she does though if she does it jr year she would need to take an academic class online - eg AP Lang online at night to have all the core classes.

[Anonymous]

We considered the Academy program for PT but ultimately decided against it because of logistics. In the end, our daughter decided to major in nursing.

One thing she might consider is volunteering at a hospital or even a medical practice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For a few years your child has expressed an interest in nursing, has asked to take the free nursing course thru fcps, and you don’t know if she should bc you’re not sure if you see her doing it as a job…?

Let her do it as a teen.

Well it’s not quite that simple, it’s a two period class at another school so there are also some logistical hurdles and it means she’d probably have to take an extra online class to get all her other classes in.

She’s been trying to do the volunteer thing at inova (although you start out in the gift shop) but it’s a lottery and she hasn’t been selected yet.

We kind of suspect she won’t like it and are worried it will then complicate her college apps for other programs. She’s a solid student probably looking at state flagship type schools.

This is not why you said you were reluctant to agree to it. Obviously logistics are a consideration but they aren't the reason you don’t want to do it (or else you'd have mentioned it originally).

[Anonymous]

The logistics do sound challenging. I'd look for a summer program that provides an introduction to nursing that could give her enough info to see if committing to the nursing academy would be appealing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The logistics do sound challenging. I'd look for a summer program that provides an introduction to nursing that could give her enough info to see if committing to the nursing academy would be appealing.

Georgetown has a 1-week program (kind of pricey) https://summer.georgetown.edu/programs/SHS26/nursing-academy/
Catholic U 1 week program (minimal cost, not residential) https://nursing.catholic.edu/academics/nursing-pre-college-program/index.html

[Anonymous]

Those camps sound really cool (esp the one for a mere $150). IMO the nursing academy sounds pretty interesting; as long as she covers other bases, why not? Having a demonstrated, multi-year interest in something is great -- especially since this is her thing and not something a counselor or coach or parent dreamed up for her. She also might do it and come out thinking "not for me" -- which happened to my son with a similar program in Fire Science.

Just a thought but it's definitely feasible for a teenager to get some exposure to this field by becoming an EMT, or at the very least arming themselves with knowledge and other certifications (CPR, wilderness medicine, epinephrine injector, Stop The Bleed). My 18yo DD was not interested in medicine as a career but at 14 started getting really anxious about the sports she previously loved (surfing, outrigger, rafting etc) -- like "so many things can go wrong and I'd have no idea what to do". We found a 16-hour wilderness medicine class at our local university and she took it thinking it would be a good way to manage her anxiety. She ended up loving it and went down an emergency preparedness rabbit hole with other certifications and programs, became a local CERT volunteer, eventually did her senior year Capstone focused on one of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The other post about nursing school reminded me to ask this - my 10th grader has expressed an interest in nursing for a few years and has talked about doing the FCPS nursing academy as a jr or sr (it’s a 2 period class at another school). We’ve been reluctant because while we can sort of see her in a nursing career we are a little skeptical that’s going to be what she wants to do. Her other interests are totally different and would probably lean to marketing, media and communications.

Going to nursing school as an undergrad seems sort of limiting to me and we’ve told her we’d rather she gets a different degree and we are happy to pay for one of the 1-2 year postgrad nursing programs if she still wants to do that later.

But the academy could be a way to see if she really is interested..,but my concern is if she’s not, and she’s applying to schools saying she wants to major in business or whatever is the nursing academy going to be a red flag? Does she look all over the place and unfocused?

What type of degree do you think is less limiting than a nursing degree? Plenty of people with nursing degrees (BSNs) are not in clinical settings. If she goes with your plan, she is going to need to make sure gets all her prerequisites for nursing school.

[Anonymous]

She should volunteer outside school at her local rescue squad. She will figure out within a year whether she really wants Nursing or medicine or neither. Also looks good on an application for either nursing or med school, and is a more serious EC for other fields.

[Anonymous]

As a senior, she will definitely have two elective spots, right? As long as she meets all her other requirements I say let her do it--IF the academy classes are somewhat convenient to you. If won't affect her ability to get into college, and if she likes it, could assist in getting into a direct admit nursing program.

I have a child who takes an academy class at another HS about 2 miles away from hers, so it just uses 1 period. But they still often get back late to her last period class.

[Anonymous]

I'm a nurse who encouraged her daughter to take the intro to nursing academy class when she expressed an interest in nursing.She was in a nursing home for clinicals which was a good first exposure. She was able to take AP classes and DE her senior year while taking the academy class. She is attending an OOS flagship this fall.