Salem High School

Salem, Missouri

Teacher: John Hendricks

 

Apprenticeship Programs in Science Related Fields

By Joshua Jones

 

When I begin to attend college in the fall of 2001, I will attend the St. Louis College of Pharmacy. I plan to attend there for six years while attaining my Doctor of Pharmacy degree. Attaining this title is a huge prize for me. An apprenticeship program that would show me the basics of the pharmaceutical field would be the best way to enhance my future plans as a pharmacist. 

           

Pharmacists do more than just count pills and then put them into the bottles.  They encounter drug interactions; bill insurance companies, are in charge of the rest of the people in the pharmacy and consults with patients. They deal with different types of questions that the customers may have ranging from how to take the medicine to what types of side effects the drug may cause their two-year-old child.  If there were an apprenticeship program for students wanting to pursue the pharmacy profession, it would be to my advantage. It would give me valuable pharmacy experience while I’m still in high school preparing for college. 

 

High School classes in today’s high schools can be geared for nearly any career that a student chooses. But if he/she wants hands on experience or on the job training in a career field that is science related, you have to be associated with an apprenticeship program such as the COE or the CBOE programs run by the business department. If there were other programs that were more geared to different occupations other than business oriented, that would give other students that didn’t necessarily want a business related occupation more of an advantage.  

Maybe if the science department had their own apprenticeship program set up for students that wanted to excel in a medical related field, it would catch the interest of more students that want jobs when they graduate, not in business, but in medicine or pharmacy like me. 

           

The schools could go as far as to develop specialized classes that furthered one’s knowledge of a certain science related field such as one that dealt directly with medicine, or the physics related to each medicine and its effects on the body. If the programs were set up within special guidelines to where only students overly achieving in the normal core subject area could be eligible for enrollment into the program, it would give these academically excelling students a chance to be a part of something of their choice, something that may soon be their career in the very near future. It would give them a chance not only to receive hands on experience, but to grasp a head start on the others who are competing for the same few spots in a college specifically designed to lure intelligent students such as a Pharmacy school, or a medical school. 

           

Many positive opportunities await a student when he or she graduates from an accredited high school. But the path they chose to follow is up to him/her.  Depending on what type of influence that they have received along the way, in turn relates to how they will chose to live their life and where they chose to go to school. If one is constantly pushed to excel by his peers, then obviously he will learn to excel on his own when he gets into one of these specialized college scenes. But if the student is left on his/her own to discover and conquer the trials of teenage life as well as school, then it’s only sensible to believe that without that certain guidance, the student may fall short of his long-term goal. That goal for most kids in today’s world is to grow up a millionaire and not ever have to worry about money. But that dream is impossible unless you have someone to guide you and to pick you up when you fall down. An apprenticeship program that specializes in the science field would give the excelling student the guidance that he/she may need for further building of their knowledge and understanding of the techniques of professionals in the field that they may one day want to pursue. 

           

In my eyes I can only see positive things coming from a program related to the science field. If a student wanted to further his learning in a science-related field he could do so, in the classroom and in the work place. A student could gain an excellent foothold on the rest of the students wanting placement in the same job by attaining some of the skills needed while still in high school with his friends and still having fun.                      [Back]