RENTON, WASH. Aug. 20, 2021 – The Providence family of organizations is launching three new Career Launch internship programs with its Ambulatory Care Network and Home and Community Care lines of business and Swedish Medical Center’s clinical engineering department. These paid internships are open to Renton and Highline School District seniors and are designed to prepare students for careers in health care. The programs will help students establish a solid educational foundation with classroom learning while also gaining on-the-job experience.
“We are very excited to participate in this program. Many of the nursing leaders in our extended care ministries started their careers in similar pathways, and we are thrilled to mentor these students at the beginning of their nursing journey,” said Mark Provan, Chief Workforce Integration Officer, Home and Community Care.
Students entering their senior year of high school will have three different pathways to choose from at Providence and Swedish: project management with the Ambulatory Care Network, pre-nursing in Home and Community Care with placement at Providence Marianwood in Issaquah, Wash., and clinical engineering with placement at Swedish.
This year, Providence offered 12 internships through a competitive process. Each Career Launch internship is in partnership with Running Start, which is a two-year academic program that extends over their senior year of high school and first year of college. This internship experience will provide education and hands-on experience supporting their continued learning. Upon completion of the Running Start program, each student receives a certificate acknowledging the unique experience they've gained and earns an interview for an employment opportunity in their field. In addition, students who complete the pre-nursing pathway and meet application requirements will be guaranteed admission to the Renton Technical College nursing program.
All three Career Launch program pathways were granted the Career Launch Endorsement by the Washington State Board of Community and Technical Colleges, which is a governor-appointed board that advocates, coordinates, and directs Washington state’s public community and technical college system.
“In the Ambulatory Care Network, we are honored to host high school interns – we are finding that all of us are learning as much from each of them as they are learning from us,” said Kirsten Saint Clair, chief executive and vice president of Providence On-Demand, Ambulatory Care Network. “We are excited to be able to introduce the incredible work of Providence to them as they begin thinking about their future careers.”
These programs are well-aligned with the Providence and Swedish missions and are focused on creating opportunities for students in historically underserved communities to gain critical educational and workforce experience that could lead to a great, sustaining-wage career. Providence and Swedish developed these internship programs in partnership with Washington Alliance for Better Schools, Renton Technical College, Highline School District, and Renton School District.
For more information about the Career Launch programs at Providence or Swedish, please contact Anna Smith, at anna.smith2@providence.org. For more information about Career Launch in Washington, please visit https://careerconnectwa.org/career-launch/.
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