LIVINGSTON / ORANGE, NJ — At its Oct. 11 meeting, the Orange Board of Education approved a memorandum of understanding between the district and Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center to facilitate an observation/job-shadowing program for Health Science Career and Technical Education students at Orange High School.
Under this program, 10 OHS students would have the opportunity to participate in a structured program in which they choose the medical departments they want to learn more about and are then assigned to shadow department heads. This program is expected to last three to four weeks, two to three days per week, each semester. According to Orange BOE communications officer Joan Purkiss, the inaugural round of this program is scheduled to begin in mid-November.
According to Samantha Anton, assistant director of public relations and marketing at Cooperman Barnabas, the hospital has not yet finalized the memorandum of understanding on its end.
Nevertheless, school district leadership is confident that the program will be fully approved in time to begin a fall round of job shadowing.
“This is our first collaboration with a medical center in providing a job-shadowing program for our students,” Purkiss told the Record-Transcript. “Selected students will be juniors or seniors who are taking courses in our Health Science CTE track at Orange High School.”
According to Superintendent of Schools Gerald Fitzhugh II, this program will prepare Orange High School students for successful careers in the health care field — a field that will prove beneficial to the students and the communities they will one day help.
“The observation/job-shadowing program for our Health Science CTE students at Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center will provide our students with hands-on career exploration opportunities while still in high school,” Fitzhugh said. “This structured learning experience supports our Career and Technical Education Health Science track. It will give our students a chance to learn more about the various health care areas, roles and responsibilities in the health care delivery system, and the skills required for career and college readiness. This exposure will help our students make career and educational decisions.
“The Orange Public School District is pleased to work with Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center and is grateful for the opportunities it affords our students,” he concluded.
BOE President Shawneque Johnson praised the program, touting the many opportunities made available to Orange students through this program and others like it.
“The Orange Board of Education is committed to ongoing partnerships that will ultimately ignite critical thinking,” Johnson said. “The partnership with Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center will open many possibilities for students who are college- or career-minded. We salute the efforts of the district for introducing powerful options to our scholars.”
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