Page 16 - University of Martland Nursing Forum - Winter 2017

CHANGE AGENT
Paying It Forward
UMSON partners with city schools to provide students with career direction
VBy Rich Dubroff
anessa Fahie, PhD ’94, MS ’83,
BSN ’76, RN, assistant professor, wants to give Baltimore high school
students the help she never received. A graduate of Baltimore’s Frederick
Douglass High School, Fahie has taught at the University of Maryland School of Nursing for 22 years. Last spring, she received a $149,000 College Preparation Intervention Program grant from the Maryland Higher Education Commission. The grant provides funding to institutions involved with Baltimore city public high schools participating in the Gaining
Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Program (GEAR UP),
funded through a U.S. Department of Education competitive grant that aims to increase the number of low-income students prepared to enter and succeed in college. The College Preparation Intervention Program grant that
Fahie received supports her work with low-income students attending her alma mater and Edmondson-Westside High School to do just that.
“I did not have any type of specific support,” she recalls of her own career decision-making. “When I was in high school, I remember thinking: ‘What am I going to do after high school?’ and my parents said, ‘Either you work or you go to school.’ I had no support other than
knowing that I wanted to be a nurse, and my parents always said, ‘You can do whatever you want to do.’”
Fahie’s funded project, Exploring Health Profession Careers, fosters career awareness and exploration, college readiness, financial literacy, and increased parental involvement, so a critical aspect of the project is working with parents. “More often than not, the students’ parents have not attended college,” Fahie says. “Some have not finished high school; some have GEDs. But more than likely, the student will be the first person in their family to attend college.
“We meet with parents to help them understand what it takes to get to college. ‘What is college? Is college really possible for my child?’ And, yes, it is possible for all children, whether they go to a trade school, a two-year college, community college, or a four-year college.”
After Fahie meets with the parents, they are better prepared to help
their children make wise decisions
to help them attain the academic background they need for college
and eventual careers.
“The program focuses on helping the
parent understand the choices that students make in high school: ‘Do I take earth science? Or do I take biology and chemistry if I want to be a nurse or a health care professional?’” Fahie says, explaining that certain courses will help pave the way for different career goals.
In the early phase of GEAR UP, which starts at two city middle schools—The Commodore John Rodgers School and Friendship Preparatory Academy at Calverton—students are encouraged to
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MARY PHELAN