Teach Academy is a three-day summer program conducted by SOWEGA-AHEC in Albany, GA. Middle and high school math and science teachers, guidance counselors and school nurses learn about the diverse career opportunities available to their students in health care.

"We developed the program because our health careers recruiters told us that middle and high school students didn’t know about health careers other than doctor and nurse, but worse yet, neither did their teachers and counselors! We knew we had to ‘educate educators’ to impact Georgia’s future health care workforce," said Nealy Stapleton, SOWEGA-AHEC’s chief operating officer.

Participants shadow five to seven professionals in different health careers. Later, they meet in small groups to discuss how to incorporate their new knowledge into teaching and lesson plans. "They begin to understand that health careers are not just about patient care," Ms. Stapleton continued, "but some are behind the scenes, such as health information and laboratory."

The program is an effective workforce tool for SOWEGA-AHEC. "According to our evaluations, the educators begin to mentally place students into various health careers. . .TEACH is opening the minds of educators and their students about new opportunities."

Other organizations have produced TEACH Academies by purchasing the TEACH manual and other materials available from SOWEGA-AHEC. The manual, plus a CD-ROM to customize forms, are available on the web for $250 at sowega-ahec.org.

For more information, contact:

Janel McGinley

SOWEGA-AHEC

Southwest Georgia

Area Health Education Center

Voice: 615-229-439-7185

Fax: 229-888-5154

Email: JMcGinley@SOWEGA-AHEC.org