For some seniors at Emmaus High School, spending another year in the same school is the last thing they want to do. Fortunately, there is a unique alternative that combines classroom learning with shadowing, field trips, and real-world experiences that many have never heard of.
The Emerging Health Program (EHP), organized by Lehigh Career & Technical Institute (LCTI), Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN), Penn State Lehigh Valley, and Lehigh Carbon Community College (LCCC), began in 2005 to introduce students to the health care industry. It is a dual-enrollment college-level program for high school seniors in the Lehigh Valley.
There are two different schedules for students in EHP. Either the students spend half their school day at one of the organizations listed above, before returning to EHS at noon, or they do the opposite, spending the morning at EHS and attending EHP in the afternoon. For current enrollees, such as Harrison Jennett and Abby Jeter follow the first schedule.
Both students attend Penn State Lehigh Valley for EHP, where they are taking Anatomy and Physiology I and II, earning two college credits.
“I thought it would just be a cool thing to get prepared for college and dip my foot in the water to see what being in a college class is actually like,” Jeter said.
While a lot of time is spent inside classrooms at other campuses, the highlight for many students is shadowing real-life professionals at work.
“I shadowed Dr. Murosko; he was great. I saw a lot about how they interact with them [kids at inpatient pediatrics]. I’ve got to meet a lot of great kids,” Jennett said.
But this comes with many complications; the majority of which stem to the long commutes from the program and back to EHS.
“It’s kind of stressful, honestly, to balance the program and actual high school… Most of the time, we don’t get into the building until 12 o’clock,” Jennett said.
Due to the late dismissal times, students in EHP are expected to provide their own transportation and their own meals, as they often miss their scheduled
lunch block. Even so, the program offers invaluable networking opportunities and experiences that entice students to it.
“I’m actually committed to DeSales. I got into their five-year PA program, which is a pretty competitive program to get into,” Jennett said. “It really, really benefited me because they see, ‘Oh, you’re in this program. I know great students come from this program,’ and that’s probably the main reason I got into it.”
While EHP was rather unknown in the past, it is gaining more recognition with the incoming senior Class of 2027.
“Even if you don’t know what you want to do… if you have any interest at all, apply,” Jennett said.
