HEAD OF THE CLASS
Searcy students gain tools for success
With one four-year college and a community college, Searcy has many options available for higher education. Whether a student is looking to serve his or her country or become a paramedic, there are plenty of opportunities available.
HARDING UNIVERSITY
This Spring, Harding University commissioned its first class of ROTC officers. While Harding has trained ROTC cadets through a partnership with Arkansas State University-Beebe for more than 30 years, the training was unavailable on Harding’s campus until the 2016-17 school year.
Shawn Fisher, assistant professor of history and the liaison between Harding and ROTC, said that previously, cadets had to do the ROTC coursework at ASUB. He said the hassle of the drive discouraged participation in the program.
“What we’ve done the past three or four years is have the classes come to us,” he said. “They are still taking the class from ASU-Beebe, but they teach them on our campus, and that’s greatly increased the interest and participation rate.”
Fisher said that after offering the ROTC courses on Harding’s campus, the program now has about 25 to 30 cadets enrolled for fall.
“We’re excited about it,” he said. “It’s a good opportunity for our students to serve. We’re also excited that we’re putting our Christian students out there to work in the mission field in the military.”
Harding has also announced a new medical humanities degree program. This program, a collaboration between the school’s College of Sciences and the College of Arts and Humanities, will be available as a major and a minor and will feature classes from eight academic programs.
“Medical schools are looking for students who understand people better,” said Debbie Duke, professor of mathematics and assistant dean for preprofessional programs.
Duke and Kathy Dillion, associate professor of English, began working on bringing the new program to Harding in January. After working with a committee of six faculty members, the addition of the medical humanities major was approved by the Academic Affairs Committee and a unanimous vote in an April faculty meeting.
Dillion said this new major is designed to connect students to the personal side of medicine, which can provide a more expansive view of career opportunities by combining what students love with how they could serve in health services. For example, a student might want to combine a love of music with behavioral therapy to provide music-therapy services in his or her career.
“It gives [students] a broader range to choose from,” she said. “They know there is some deep love they have for literature and fine arts, so this allows them to do both.”
Classes for the new medical humanities program will begin this fall.
ARKANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY-BEEBE
Offering such programs as Practical Nursing, Air Conditioning, Auto Body, Automotive, Computer Machining Technology, Diesel Technology, Welding and EMT/Paramedics, Arkansas State UniversityBeebe’s Searcy campus provides a variety of technical and occupational programs.
The school was recently recognized for its student success rate by the Aspen Institute, an organization that works to find solutions to some of the world’s most complex problems. For the third time since 2011, ASU-Beebe was included in the top 150 community colleges in the nation and chosen from among 1,123 community colleges to compete for the 2017 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence and $1 million in prize funds.
This prize, which is awarded every two years, recognizes institutions for exceptional student outcomes in four areas: student learning, certificate and degree completion, employment and earnings, and high levels of access and courses for minority and low-income students.
Offering the only paramedic program in the state with night classes, ASU-Beebe trains emergency medical technicians and paramedics as part of the Emergency Medical Services Program. The paramedic technical certification coursework requires 40 hours of credits, with 20 additional credit hours required for the Associate of Applied Sciences degree in paramedics. These classes begin each fall and continue into the spring semester.
ASU-Beebe’s Regional Career Center offers programs to high school students in areas such as medical professions, welding, power sports, auto body, automotive and computerized machining. Adult education classes are offered for students seeking General Education Development diplomas, and Community Education offers a variety of noncredit courses, such as computer software training, personal-interest classes and industry certification.
Students at ASU-Beebe’s Searcy branch can also participate in events through the Health Occupation Students of America or SkillsUSA. These national organizations host a variety of state and national competitions in many areas. HOSA’s mission is to advance the delivery of quality health care by encouraging knowledge, skills and leadership in health science education students. HOSA has competitions that include Medical Math, Behavioral Health, Creative Problem Solving and more. SkillsUSA is a national partnership of students and teachers who work together to ensure that America has a skilled workforce. High school and college students can participate in SkillsUSA, and students can compete in areas such as computer programming, welding, masonry and others.