During the week of January 9-15, twenty-four of CTE teachers Jimmy Rider and Tiffany Shaw’s Health Science Clinical students took the Certified Nursing Assistant Certifications. These certification tests take a full semester’s worth of training, then a full week to complete the testing.

“I’ve been preparing for [the CNA test] the entire first semester,” senior Lauryn Rasco said. “In order to get the certification you have to go through clinical hours at the Azle Manor nursing home, where you have to complete 40 hours in the actual facility to even qualify to take the test.”

During the actual test, nurses came to the school to watch and grade the students on whatever technique they were performing.

“An evaluator from Prometrics-Texas Nurse Aide came to our lab each day, where the students would begin with a written test on the computer,” Rider said. “Then they were paired up and brought into the lab testing area to demonstrate proficiency in nursing assistant skills that they have been practicing throughout this class.”

There are 21 different skill options that students can choose from, ranging from moving a patient from a bed to a wheelchair, to hand and nail care. Each candidate gets to pick three of those skills that they want to perform for their CNA test.

“Nursing Assistant skills are performed on mannequins or their partner,” Mr. Rider said. “It just depends on the skill itself.”

On top of students in health science classes now being CNA certified, some of them will be competing at the Health Occupation Students of America, or HOSA, area competition, with Azle’s HOSA club in February.

“Not only am I certified in CNA now, I’m actually competing in a HOSA event for it,” Rasco said. “Like FFA, everyone competes in different events, and we took an online test that I actually got first in our district for, so now I’m advancing to the area competition in a few weeks.”

Straight out of high school these students who receive certification can get straight into making good money with a good job in health care.