Area high school students get real-world exposure to healthcare career path

Hundreds of Roseville high school students recently got a rare chance to closely interact with healthcare professionals and learn about what it takes to successfully get on that career path. The event, Academic Advantage, is a partnership between Placer Oral & Dental Implant Surgery and the Roseville Joint Union High School District's Career Technical Education (CTE) program. It offers participating students a career exploration event. About 275 students took part in the event at Oakmont High School with physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals offering presentations, Q&A and hands-on discussions. Students also had the opportunity to network with representatives from local colleges and healthcare programs, including Jose Ramirez, a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist and an Oakmont Health Academy alumnus who returned to share his journey with current students. The event also featured the announcement of the practice's annual Wisdom For Wisdom program, giving students the chance to apply for a free wisdom teeth removal procedure valued at $2,500. "Growing up just 20 minutes from here, programs like this didn't exist when I was a kid — I had to figure it out on my own," said Dr. Daniel Martin, oral and maxillofacial surgeon and founder of Placer Oral & Dental Implant Surgery. "Being able to give back to the community I grew up in and help students navigate these career paths earlier is what Academic Advantage is all about." For Doug Ginn, the health academy coordinator at Oakmont and a 31-year veteran of the program, events like Academic Advantage are about more than career exploration. "What I love about our partnership with Academic Advantage is that it gives our students the opportunity to hear directly from healthcare professionals — to understand their story and their journey," said Ginn. "We hope to help kids find their inspiration and their why, so when they go to college, they know what they're pursuing and why they're pursuing it." The sentiment was echoed by students in attendance. "Academic Advantage highlighted how we don't just have to use technical skills — we can also use personality skills like compassion and speaking for your patients," said Callie Kersey, a junior at Oakmont. "The healthcare professionals themselves are telling us stories about how they have to advocate for their patients, and I'm able to see that I have those skills and can use them in real-life situations." Now in its third year, Academic Advantage continues to grow, already drawing students from multiple high schools across the Roseville area. With more than 1 million people across Northern California living in areas with limited access to primary care, organizers say reaching students earlier, before college decisions are made, is key to building a stronger long-term healthcare pipeline across the region. To learn more about the program, you can visit placeromfs.com/academicadvantage.