HUNTINGTON Ƶ Josh Baker, president of Mountwest Community and Technical College, says the school is developing new career pathways for students.
Baker told the collegeƵs board of governors Thursday that a pre-nursing pathway will allow students, including high school students, to complete all general education courses for nursing.
ƵA high school student will be able to apply for St. MaryƵs nursing program when they graduate high school,Ƶ Baker said. ƵThey will also be well prepared to enter a variety of health care fields, including pharmacy.Ƶ
Baker said that the program will be fully developed in the fall of 2022.
He also spoke about a new patient care tech program that will provide quick access to entry-level employment in a hospital.
ƵOnce students complete that program, they could continue on to medical assisting,Ƶ he said. ƵMedical assistants are in very high demand in the hospitals. Medical assisting is an associate degree, and we start our next cohort in January. We are adding the extra cohort because we know the hospitals need people in this field as soon as possible.Ƶ
Baker said the college is also researching a chemical dependency counselor-type of program.
ƵThis is early research but looks promising, given our local dynamics regarding drug use and rehab,Ƶ he said. ƵWe want to help the community recover, and we would love to start this in a year.Ƶ
Baker also reported that 70% of the collegeƵs students pay no tuition.
ƵWest Virginia Invests makes most programs at the community college free, but does not apply to all programs,Ƶ he explained. ƵWhen it is all said and done, 70% of the students have their tuition fully covered.Ƶ
He added that even more have significant parts of their tuition covered.
ƵWe have free, or very affordable, options for students to transfer or prepare for a career,Ƶ Baker said. ƵThis is such remarkable value, and we need to make the community aware of this.Ƶ
Fred Pace is the business reporter for The Herald-Dispatch. Follow him at and via Twitter @FredPaceHD.
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism
that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness
accounts, the history behind an article.
