WVJC Bridgeport Welcomes
Phillip Barbour High School
Bus tours are back at West Virginia Junior College here in Bridgeport. We are beyond excited to open our campus to local high school juniors and seniors. We arrange for area high schools to come in on Fridays to give students a look at our programs and what we have to offer here at WVJC. It’s one thing for these students to read about the programs we offer, but it’s another to have them come in and hear from the program directors themselves, along with getting hands-on with interactive engagement.
Our tour begins around 9:30 am when students arrive. We get them registered and give a brief hello and summary of what they can expect while they are at our campus for the tour. We have five different stations set up, featuring Dental Assisting, Clinical Medical Assistant, Medical Office Administration, Information Technology, Registered Nursing, and Practical Nursing. During each station, the students will learn about each program and participate in an activity based on that program. The dental assistant had the students make impressions of their teeth. The nursing department had a birthing simulation with our labor and delivery mannequin. Medical assisting and medical billing were combined, featuring two different activities. The clinical side allowed students to wear PPE gear and clean “bloody” equipment. The coding side had several hilariously outlandish codes for students to look up, and let me tell you, there really is a code for everything. The Information Technology program had computers for the students to take apart and put back together.
The students seemed to have a great time getting to not only learn about our programs but to be doing hands-on activities based on the programs. Also, in the rotation of programs, we had an area set up where we discussed scholarships with the students. The students learned about various scholarships* we offer at WVJC, such as the Stephen A. Callan Memorial Scholarship and the Friends of Coal Miners Scholarship. This seemed to help students by showing them various options for paying for college.
After the students attend all of the stations, they are allowed to ask any questions they may have. They are asked to fill out a card marking any program they may be interested in learning more about. After the questions and cards had been taken care of, we fed the students a Chick-fil-A lunch and sent them back to their school, hoping to spread the word about the incredible things that they were able to not only learn about but do while here on campus.
During lunch, I could talk with the students and learn more about them and their future dreams. The counselors helped me understand more about the high school demographic and what students plan to do after graduation. Many high school students have only been taught that college has to be a big four-year commitment. They do not realize that there are other options for them and their futures and that they can obtain a great education and an associate’s degree in under two years.
We are hopeful that the return of bus tours here at WVJC will be a great thing for not only us but for the local students who are seeing that a great education can be obtained here at WVJC. Contact us today to learn more about our accelerated programs!
*For those who qualify. See catalog for detailed eligibility requirements.