By Billie Downs, Career Center Director & District Administrator at Groton CSD, and Margo Martin, Superintendent of Groton CSD
Through a grant from the Mother Cabrini Association, Groton High School has been afforded an opportunity to build its health sciences program. Groton is proud to welcome Tayler Wilkinson, whose charge is to expand hands-on learning opportunities for students in Groton’s Health Sciences STEAM program, helping them explore the many career possibilities within the healthcare field.
Part of the grant also provides funding for Groton to work with Tompkins Cortland Community College (TC3), TST-BOCES, and Cayuga Medical Center (CMC) that will allow students to participate in hospital rotations that provide firsthand exposure to a wide range of medical professions. These experiences—along with guest speakers and field trips—allow students to observe healthcare environments, engage with medical professionals, and connect classroom learning to real-world practice. Long term, the rotation schedule being established through the grant will be shared with other health science programs in the region, including TST-BOCES New Vision and Nurse Assisting and Health Occupations programs, as well as TC3’s health sciences degree.
Upcoming programming includes weekly rotations at CMC in areas such as pharmacy, imaging, histology, maternity, and emergency medicine. Other departments being explored for future rotations include social work, wound care, rehabilitation, and surgery. In addition, students will visit college campuses to explore postsecondary programs in nursing, dental hygiene, physical therapy, histology, health information technology, radiologic technology, paramedicine, and more.
In collaboration with Billie Downs from the Career Center, Ms. Wilkinson is strategically developing comprehensive work-based learning initiatives that broaden students’ exposure to healthcare careers. These initiatives include a Summer Health Sciences Career Academy for grades 10–12, Career Discovery Day for grades 3–8, a Mini Healthcare Fair, and unique opportunities such as Pet First Aid, Babysitting Courses, and Wilderness First Aid.
Ms. Wilkinson is also strengthening partnerships with K–12 schools, postsecondary institutions, and healthcare organizations. She is working closely with TST BOCES, Tompkins Cortland Community College, and Centralus Health to build clear, accessible healthcare career pathways that empower students to explore, prepare for, and succeed in future healthcare professions. In addition, both TST-BOCES and the Groton CSD plan on using the healthcare pathways being built by Ms. Wilkinson as a model for pathways for other high school fields of study.