North Allegheny seniors serve community using skills learned in Health and Nursing Sciences

North Allegheny seniors Marissa Johnson and Zoe Conoran, who are third-year students in A.W. Beattie’s Health and Nursing Sciences program, volunteer on Saturday mornings to provide First Aid to North Allegheny youth football players and cheerleaders.

Marissa and Zoe, through the HNS program, are certified in CPR, First Aid, Stop the Bleed, Fire Extinguisher, OSHA, Blood Borne Pathogens, and Direct Care Staff, enabling them to respond to any number of different scenarios that play out on the field and the sidelines.

HNS instructor Mrs. Dietz also volunteers as North Hills Youth Football trainer and recently witnessed Zoe and Marissa in action.

“It is great to see Marissa and Zoe utilize their skills in their community,” Mrs. Dietz said. “I am so proud of how much they have both grown since they started as sophomores. They are leaders in the classroom and in the community.”

Marissa cheered for years and began coaching youth cheerleaders in eighth grade.

“I used to cheer in Tiger Pride, so if I can coach and provide First Aid it provides me with closure because it’s my last year here,” Marissa said. “I also want to get used to providing for and serving my community because that’s what I’ll be doing in the nursing field. It also makes me happy to give back to my community after everything that other people did for me in Tiger Pride.”

“I’ve really enjoyed being around the families and kids,” Zoe added. “I want to be familiar with what it’s like working with them because this is the field I want to be in. The kids are so bubbly and full of life. They’re fun to be around.”

They said their experience in the HNS program has prepared them for their career pathways.

“We’ve toured nursing schools and have had nursing students tell us about what we will learn,” Zoe said. “Now we’re reviewing and building on what we learned in our first two years. I feel like whenever we practice skills in nursing school we’ll be comfortable applying what we’ve already learned here.”

Marissa plans to attend UPMC Shadyside School of Nursing, become an RN and continue her education for Pediatric Orthopedics. Zoe is interested in attending UPMC St. Margaret or Shadyside for nursing.

Their journey in the Health and Nursing Sciences program began with HNS instructor Mr. Moran who teaches the anatomy and terminology portion of the program to first-year students.

Mrs. Dietz then instructs HNS students in their second and third years in the program, and students are pushed out of their comfort zone as they do hands-on skills and real-world simulations like vitals, dressing changes, and transferring patients in the HNS lab on a daily basis. They also are introduced to guest speakers and go on a variety of field trips to prepare them for what nursing school will be like and to give them insight on what will be expected of them when they work in the nursing field.

“It’s great to see how much Zoe and Marissa have grown into themselves, that they are comfortable giving back to the community using the skills that I have taught them,” Mrs. Dietz said.

To learn more about the Health and Nursing Sciences program and A.W. Beattie Career Center, visit www.beattietech.com.