IU Health High School Fellowship: An Early Path to Helping Patients

Partnership between the district and Indiana University Health offers college credits, professional credentials and job opportunities

By Carnegie Corporation of New York July 15, 2024

Future of Learning & Work

The Indiana University Health High School Fellowship aims to prepare teenagers for a broad range of medical careers while recruiting staff for downtown hospitals, which have about 600 open roles at any given time, as well as facilities nearby. (Credit: Jack Duran/Carnegie Corporation of New York)

Angeleina Nance remembers her academic troubles back in seventh grade and the cruelty of some people saying she “wasn’t going to get anywhere in life.” Her trajectory turned around in high school, when she joined a three-year program that promised an inside look at health careers, courses that earned college credits and paid summer internships.

Now 17 and a rising junior in high school, Nance sees a future as a traveling nurse. She credits the caring team running the Indiana University Health High School Fellowship with helping students stay focused through frequent meetings, practical guidance and encouragement. “They understand you,” she says. “They want to help you get to where you want to be in life.”

Nance is one of 88 teenagers in a fellowship offered by Indianapolis Public Schools and Indiana University Health, a major hospital system in the city. The partnership aims to prepare teenagers for a broad range of medical careers while recruiting staff for downtown hospitals, which have about 600 open roles at any given time, as well as facilities nearby. The fellowship also seeks to bring more minority talent into the field so that patients can be treated by clinicians from their own background.

The fellowship is based at the health sciences academy at Crispus Attucks High School, which has a rich history. It was built in 1927 to serve as the only public high school in Indianapolis for Black students back when the Ku Klux Klan had clout in local politics. In 1955, the school’s basketball team, the Tigers, won glory as the first all-Black team to win a state championship in any sport in the country. The school integrated in 1970 under a court order. Now most of its 1,200 students are Black and low-income.

The IU Health High School Fellowship offers a health sciences curriculum and the opportunity to earn five industry certifications that can lead to jobs right after high school graduation, including credentials for Clinical Medical Assistant and Certified Nursing Assistant. Those earning CNA certification can work in patient care while in high school.

Fellows also shadow professionals, watch surgeries, and work at paid summer internships that rotate among the health system’s departments, including business and research. One goal is exposing students to a range of potential jobs, from designing facilities and safeguarding digital information to hands-on care.

“If you only know about doctors and nurses, you’re missing a wide gamut of career options,” says Andrea Russell, program manager for the fellowship.

By the Numbers

All 18 fellows in the first cohort - who graduated this spring - achieved at least a 3.0 GPA last year.

88 percent of high school students participated in the three-year fellowship in 2023-24.

Another 35 students plan to join in the fall.

Many fellows are the first in their family to attend college. To help them stay on track, they meet after school with peers and program leaders every two weeks to talk about their aspirations, challenges and resources. They receive counseling on college applications and scholarships and commit to meeting academic requirements that ratchet up yearly: All 18 fellows in the first cohort - who graduated this spring - had at least a 3.0 GPA last year.

The selective fellowship is capped at about 45 students yearly. Organizers plan to use their $200,000 grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York to improve the program, promote it as early as middle school, and broaden the applicant pool. Eventually they hope to expand it to other schools or districts. It’s not easy, however, to coordinate between a major medical institution and a school district: They have different calendars, legal departments and funding protocols, to name a few hurdles.

Geanika Lewis, a 17-year-old rising senior who wants to be a nurse practitioner or nurse anesthetist, said the fellowship helped her stay engaged academically. “It helped with self-control because I don’t want to lose my opportunities,” she says.

Lewis is proud to have earned a CNA in high school without having to pay for the required classes, and to be taking her first step into the medical profession at such a young age. “My grandmother is always in and out of the hospital and they can never figure out what's wrong with her,” she says. “I wouldn't want another family to feel that. I want to help people out.”

This article is part of a series featuring winners of Profiles in Collective Leadership, an initiative by Carnegie Corporation of New York in partnership with the nonprofit Transcend, that recognizes outstanding local partnerships that educate youth, bolster the workforce, and demonstrate the power of working together. The 10 nonpartisan collaborations in urban, suburban, and rural areas across the country draw on the strengths of local government, education, nonprofit, business, and health care professionals to catalyze socioeconomic mobility and civic engagement in their communities. The 10 recognized partnerships in eight states have been awarded $200,000 grants and will act as exemplars, sharing what they have learned with each other and more broadly.