It’s a career with an estimated shortage of 200,000 in the United States alone. High-pressure, often arduous, and with long hours, nursing is an occupation in high demand that brings challenges and satisfaction in equal doses.
On the high desert of central Wyoming, one small high school has answered that demand in a unique way. Students at Shoshoni High School have the opportunity to take a Certified Nursing Assistant program during the fall semester on campus, with follow-up at a professional facility under the instruction of the school nurse.
The course description in the Shoshoni Student Handbook articulates the program well.
“The Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) program at Shoshoni High School provides students with a meaningful and practical foundation in health care while still in high school. Through hands-on learning, classroom instruction, and real-world clinical experiences, students gain a strong understanding of patient care, professionalism, and responsibility. The program emphasizes compassion, communication, and critical thinking—skills that are essential not only in health care, but in any career path students may choose.”
Many registered nurses, nurse practitioners, physicians’ assistants, and physicians began their careers as Certified Nursing Assistants. It’s a natural pathway for young people interested in health care to get a start in the profession while still in school and make a little money in the process.
The program at Shoshoni had three girls last fall under the instruction of school nurse Michelle Westman. Westman is a recent addition to the Shoshoni staff and the wife of principal Ted Robinson.
Westman is originally from Chicago.
“It was a whim, my best friend was working in Thermopolis,” Westman said. “I applied and went to work at Hot Springs Health in the OR, med surge, and emergency room.”
She met Robinson while working at the hospital in Thermopolis. “We’re now completely domesticated,” Westman said.
This is her first year at Shoshoni. Previously, she was an instructor in the Central Wyoming College nursing program.
“I enjoyed teaching at CWC,” Westman said. “Stacey (Stanek) was a wonderful boss.”
Her move to the role of a school nurse was a change, but the CNA class was a connection to her previous work as a college nursing instructor.
“A CNA is a career you can take through college,” Westman said. “With CTE (Career and Technical Education) we can help students prepare for the state exam. We try to apply what they learn in class to practice.”
The practice portion of the class takes place in a real-world working situation at Wind River Rehabilitation in Riverton.
“Being a CNA put me through college,” Westman said. “If they take the course they have the ability to pass the state exam. Some of our students from last year are working as CNAs.”
Students from this year’s class are preparing for careers in animal medicine and enrolling in college nursing programs.
Kyra Rodriguez is a senior at Shoshoni High School. She is the daughter of Shoshoni Technology Director Brandi Rodriguez and an active student. She is the president of the Shoshoni National Honor Society, a vice-president in their FFA chapter, and she shows goats. She wants to become a nurse.
She was one of the students who took the class last fall.
“I learned a lot of the skills and about taking care of people,” Kyra said. “It was a really good start.”
Kyra has applied to the Central Wyoming College nursing program and is waiting to hear if she was accepted.
In the meantime, she is working as a CNA at Help for Health, the hospice in Riverton.
“I just love taking care of people,” Kyra said.
People love the way she does it as well.
“She’s wonderful. She is very caring,” Sally Ward, who has a family member at Help for Health, said.
“She’s great,” Tim Watkins, a registered nurse at Help for Health, said. “She does a lot of work after school. She’s smart and a good student. I think she’ll make a great nurse.”
Other staff commented that the patients are very appreciative and that she finds good connections with them.
Kyra’s story is just one example of the difference a class can make in a person’s life.
The parallels to “The Star Thrower,” a short story by Loren Eiseley, are obvious. To paraphrase the story:
A man is walking along a beach when he sees a young boy picking up starfish stranded by the tide and throwing them back into the ocean.
“What are you doing?” the man asked.
“Throwing starfish into the ocean,” the boy replied. “The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them in, they’ll die.”
“You man, do you not realize that there are miles of and miles of beach and there are starfish along every mile? You can’t possibly make a difference.”
The young man bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the ocean.
“It made a difference for that one,” he said.
Making a difference is the role of a public education, no matter the setting, the class, or the number of students in it.
The opportunities at Shoshoni High School in their Career and Technical Education classes make a difference for their students.
How can one of the smallest schools, in the smallest state by population in the nation, possibly make a difference? It’s like ripples in a pond after throwing in a stone; they expand outward.
Just ask a starfish.