{"id":813,"date":"2026-02-12T13:56:39","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T18:56:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.une.edu\/maineahec\/?p=813"},"modified":"2026-02-12T13:56:40","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T18:56:40","slug":"rural-youth-health-career-pathway-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.une.edu\/maineahec\/2026\/02\/12\/rural-youth-health-career-pathway-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Rural Youth Health Career Pathway Program"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This year the Maine AHEC Network team was awarded foundation funding to develop and run a longitudinal Rural Youth Health Career Pathway Program. The program aims to reduce the barriers that rural high school students face along the pathway to enter health professions, with the goal of increasing the number of students from rural communities who enter healthcare careers in an effort to reduce healthcare workforce shortages in rural Maine. It consists of learning sessions offered throughout the year, a health-focused service learning opportunity, and one-on-one meetings and support. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learning sessions include: a session to build cohort cohesion, set expectations, and develop skills in self-advocacy; skill building sessions focused on resume writing and interview practice; a session on secondary education options to increase awareness of two and four year programs as well as on-the-job training opportunities; a session on education funding to increase understanding of school loan programs, scholarship options, and the FAFSA process; and hands-on health career exploration sessions.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each of the three regional AHEC Centers enrolled a cohort of students and is leading the program locally with support from the Program Office. The program was formally launched in September with the enrollment of 35 high school students from rural Maine. The students have participated in the initial orientation sessions and the skill-building sessions with the AHEC Centers. The AHEC Evaluation team will join a learning activity later this month to host a listening session to gain student feedback on the program thus far.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A participant from the Western Maine AHEC student cohort is volunteering at the Franklin Hospital Food Pantry to complete the service learning component of the program.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This year the Maine AHEC Network team was awarded foundation funding to develop and run a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRural Youth Health Career Pathway Program - Maine AHEC Network Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rural Youth Health Career Pathway Program - Maine AHEC Network Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This year the Maine AHEC Network team was awarded foundation funding to develop and run a …\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sites.une.edu\/maineahec\/?p=813\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Maine AHEC Network Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-12T18:56:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-12T18:56:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sites.une.edu\/maineahec\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2026\/02\/Feb-2026-Western-Participant-703x1024.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ccatron\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ccatron\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.une.edu\/maineahec\/?p=813#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.une.edu\/maineahec\/?p=813\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ccatron\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.une.edu\/maineahec\/#\/schema\/person\/1ced8a8c42054d02e03150559c88fe1a\"},\"headline\":\"Rural Youth Health Career Pathway Program\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-12T18:56:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-12T18:56:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.une.edu\/maineahec\/?p=813\"},\"wordCount\":276,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.une.edu\/maineahec\/?p=813#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sites.une.edu\/maineahec\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2026\/02\/Feb-2026-Western-Participant-703x1024.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Education\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.une.edu\/maineahec\/?p=813\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.une.edu\/maineahec\/?p=813\",\"name\":\"Rural Youth Health Career Pathway Program - 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