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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Students learn about workaday world

Sara Leamingsara Leaming By Sara Leaming

Rogers High School senior LaRyssa Roberts spent part of her day Tuesday in the emergency room at Sacred Heart Medical Center.

The 18-year-old wasn’t there for treatment. Roberts was there to learn about radiology and taking X-rays. She hopes to become an ultrasound technician.

“It’s so interesting,” she said.

Roberts is one of 14 students assigned to the hospital this year as part of Career Focus classes offered through Spokane Public Schools.

The semester-long course is an unpaid opportunity for high school juniors and seniors to gain on-the-job experience.

Students from Rogers spend a two-period block every other school day working with Sacred Heart staff in various departments, including radiology, patient transport, information and maintenance.

“A lot of it is about employment skills,” such as learning to arrive on time, or calling when you can’t make it,” said teacher Dan Rice. “We treat it just like a job.”

Students from Rogers also work at Costco Wholesale, and the program is duplicated at other area high schools, including Shadle Park, Lewis and Clark and North Central, Rice said.

For many students, in addition to employment skills, the program offers the opportunity to try on different careers.

“I need as much experience as I can get,” said Josh Heimbigner, a 17-year-old Rogers student who hopes to work as an electrician after high school. He works with hospital maintenance staff each week.

Heimbigner’s classmates, Andrew Deeble and Rodney McDonald, help with patient transport.

“My social skills have improved,” said Deeble, 17. “Before, I didn’t know what to say to (the patients).” Now the teen chats away, Deeble’s teacher said.

“I just wanted to see how the hospital field and the medical field all worked,” said McDonald, 16, “just to see if I like it.”

Warm up with tropical music

The temperature outside may be below freezing, but it will feel like the tropics inside Rogers High School on Friday during a free performance by the Rogers steel drum band.

The community is invited to come and hear the steel pan drum ensemble from 6 to 8 p.m. inside the school cafeteria, 1622 E. Wellesley.

Refreshments will be provided.

The band plays at school functions, corporate functions and some community events. This event is a rare opportunity for the public to hear the band, parent Jeff Belote said.

For more information, contact Belote at 868-9012.

More joyful sounds

As the winter season gets into full swing, many area schools have holiday concerts planned.

•The Northwest Christian middle and high school choir, Sounds of Faith, will perform various Christmas songs with “A Candlelight Christmas,” 7 p.m. Monday at the high school campus chapel, 5104 E. Bernhill Road, in Colbert.

The evening will conclude with a Christmas carol sing-along by candlelight.

•Students in grades one through six from Evergreen Elementary School in the Mead School District will host two free concerts Dec. 15 featuring the music of the season.

The morning performance will begin at 10, with a repeat performance at 7 p.m., both in Cowles Auditorium at Whitworth College, 300 W. Hawthorne Road.

For a campus map go to http://www.whitworth.edu/GeneralInformation/VisitWhitworth/Map/Index.htm.

For more information about upcoming holiday events, please contact neighborhood schools.