A program created by West Virginia University that has been in existence for more than 15 years has been working to fulfill its mission of increasing the number of under-represented and minority high school students in the state who pursue post-secondary education in the health sciences fields, and to increase the number of health practitioners. According to Carolyn Penn, the Raleigh County field site coordinator, the program, Health Science Technology Academy — otherwise known as HSTA — remains one of the area’s best kept secrets.

HSTA is a statewide program that is a community- and campus-based partnership for high school students, which starts working with students in ninth grade and follows them through graduation to provide academic enrichment and orientation to careers in the health sciences field.

HSTA provides tuition and fee waivers to successful students for undergraduate and graduate programs at statewide colleges and universities, Penn said, and added HSTA students are 36 percent African-American, 56 percent financially disadvantaged, 68 percent the first in their families to go to college, 74 percent rural and 69 percent female.

Only ninth-graders may apply for selection and only 10 students are accepted into each club. Those students must meet the criteria of academically promising, under-represented minorities, financially disadvantaged, first-generation college-bound or environmentally disadvantaged, in other words, live in a rural area, she explained. Students must also complete 15 hours of community service.

The goal is to educate underserved populations about science and health, and to recruit more scientists and health care providers, Penn stressed.

“We give them that opportunity and follow them through the process to hopefully feed them back into the community so they can come back and work here locally once they have completed school,” Penn said.

“The tuition waiver in itself should persuade anyone to take part in the program. Not only that, but because West Virginia has some of the lowest numbers of health care providers here, we focus our students on health care. If there is any position they are interested in, we try to hook them up with someone in that profession to shadow, to make sure that is what they really want to do,” she explained.

“It is our hope that once they go through college and complete their degree, they will come back to the community and give back to what’s been given to them.”

Locally there are 30 participating students at Woodrow Wilson High School, 20 participating students at Independence, and 10 at Shady Spring High and Liberty High, Penn said.

“Full tuition waivers are accepted at both WVU and Marshall University. Not only do they allow them to go for undergraduate studies, they may use the HSTA waiver for graduate school as well.

“Marshall allows them to go into any program and use the waiver while WVU allows them to go into any program for undergraduate programs but may only use the waiver in graduate school if they must choose a health science field,” Penn further explained.

So far, the program has been successful, Penn said, citing statistics that 1,399 successful HSTA alumni are currently attending or have attended college or professional school. She also said 97 percent of the graduating HSTA students go off to college, versus the 56 percent of West Virginian students.

As of December 2010, 327 HSTA students have completed bachelor’s degrees, 56 have completed graduate degrees and 27 completed doctorate degrees. The program has over 790 students, 81 teachers and 174 governing board members with strong voting power, Penn said.

The program is mainly supported by the West Virginia Legislature, but it also receives funding from other public and private sources, Penn explained.

HSTA is available in 26 counties throughout the state. For more information contact Penn at 304-256-4500 extension 3372, e-mail her at cpenn@ hsc.wvu.edu or visit www.wv-hsta.org.

— E-mail: kvanpelt@register-herald.com