Allied Health Science (AHS) students at the Laurel County Schools Center for Innovation (CFI) demonstrated superb knowledge, skills proficiency, and professional dispositions as competitors in the annual Health Occupation Students of America (HOSA) state competition. The CFI operates a student club organization that is an affiliate chapter of Kentucky HOSA. Tammy Jones, MSN, RN, and Chasity Vandeventer, MSN, RN instructors and program coordinators at the CFI, lead the Laurel County chapter.

Jones, who serves as the MNA program coordinator, exclaimed tremendous pride in the student’s performance given the challenges of the pandemic and other disruptions in the learning process. Ms. Vandeventer, the NHA Program Coordinator, spoke of the extraordinary work ethic demonstrated by students and their commitment to learning despite various challenges.  

Dr. James M. Davis, CFI Principal, indicated that the HOSA club helps students develop their knowledge and skill capacities in the health sciences area and actualize their leadership potential. “We are ecstatic and pleased to recognize these outstanding scholars for their demonstration of academic knowledge and technical expertise,” said Davis. “Our HOSA students have performed at the highest levels and earned top-level rankings every year since the inception of the program at the CFI five years ago. Our students have become major contenders for awards and accolades annually with the Kentucky statewide HOSA competitions,” added Davis.

Kentucky State HOSA Competition Rankings Earned by CFI Allied Health Science Students: 

Mrs. Kate Ray’s English 3 class recently conducted a mock trial based upon their reading of the literary classic The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Students participated in the mock trial by taking on the roles of the prosecution, defense, the accused, and the bailiff. The mock trial was presided over by Dr. James M. Davis, CFI Principal, who served as the Judge. 

Ray spoke of the context that conducting the mock trial provides to the students as they engage in actionable thoughts and behaviors to display their knowledge and comprehension of the select reading and argumentative writing. “The students enjoy the drama of the court proceedings as it brings their reading to another level of understanding as they act out and portray the main characters in the mock trial,” said Ray. “I always enjoy supporting the student learning activities, and the opportunity to engage with them in the mock trial process is truly a great pleasure,” remarked Davis. “This learning activity gives us an excellent opportunity to showcase our English Language Arts (ELA) program at the CFI,” added Davis.

L-R: Travis Vandy, Ethan Mills, Draven Fuller, Max Bendschneider, Dr. Davis, Alex Hibbard, Jaydon Hendrickson, Dylan Madden, Evan Reynolds, Seth Elkins serve as Mock Trial Team.

Students in Mrs. Kristy Reid’s Pre-Calculus class at the Laurel County Schools Center for Innovation (CFI) are utilizing applied learning from their classroom experience to write their own coding program for the TI-Innovator Rover.  “Using the TI-Nspire calculator, students use several commonly used Rover and basic calculator commands while exercising their knowledge of polygons, angles, and the coordinate plane to write code to have the Rover complete a series of challenges,” remarked Reid. 

“It is important to contextualize advanced math concepts through the utilization of applied learning,” added Reid.  “Math sometimes is often theoretical in nature, and when students have visual, tactile, and application experiences with the content, they tend to retain the information better for future use and performance,” said Dr. James M. Davis, CFI Principal.  “We are pleased to offer an integrated curriculum at the CFI, whereby English and mathematics instruction is utilized to obtain academic knowledge while also being applied to the technical program of studies at the CFI,” added Davis.

L to R: Brionna Donaldson, Jacob Savage, Michael Stallard, and Logan White

setting up a maze course and programming their TI-Innovator Rovers