will serve as learning sites. Officials envision the program could provide a homegrown pipeline of future health care workers and support Centegra’s goal to train the next generation of providers.

Only high-achieving juniors and seniors able to make Huntley High’s competitive Medical Academy program are considered, and of those, only a few students qualify for the hospital residency. Eligible candidates must maintain a 3.5 grade-point average or higher.

The students who have taken three years of biomedical science were selected for the residency program, which can handle a maximum of 30 students.

Students are paired with mentors at Centegra or one of its affiliates who can provide counseling and guidance. They get a minimum of 2.5 hours of weekly experience for the program’s duration, exploring a variety of hospital jobs, including critical care, emergency room, immediate care, medical/surgical, and various specialties.

Among their experiences — shared on a blog through district158.org — are watching babies being born and nursed, seeing pharmacists filling prescriptions and administering flu shots, and learning what it takes to cool and power the hospital and keep its equipment running.

“Some of the rotations are more hands-on. Some of them are more observational,” said Sheilagh DeLorenzo, biomedical science teacher and Project Lead the Way coordinator. “They love seeing the procedures that they’ve heard about.”

Senior Savannah Valeria, 18, never expected learning about filing and filling pharmacy prescriptions would be so interesting. It has opened doors to professions she had not considered. “It’s been awesome so far,” she said. “I feel like this program is really helping me to figure out what I want to be ... to see if there are other jobs that are out there for which you don’t have to go to medical school.”