Thirteen high school seniors who completed Stony Brook University Hospital’s Health Occupations Partnership for Excellence (HOPE) Program celebrated their “graduation” from the program and are now in college.

A ceremony took place at the hospital on May 10 to honor their accomplishments. Mentored by  Stony Brook faculty, the two-year program fosters the academic development of 11th and 12th students from the Brentwood, Longwood and Wyandanch school districts and preps them for future careers in the health industry.

The faculty-mentored educational program exposes students from underserved school districts to careers in healthcare.

Since its inception in 2005, HOPE has helped open new avenues for hundreds of promising high school students from underserved and racially and ethnically diverse communities.

At this year’s ceremony, the students expressed how much they learned from HOPE, frequently citing the thrill of shadowing doctors, seeing medical technology in action, learning from nurses about patient care, and the “amazing” breadth of the healthcare field – one that they anticipate holds many opportunities for them after they complete college.

Some of the other colleges these HOPE graduates will attend include: Allegheny College, Cornell University, Farmingdale State College, Monroe College, St. Joseph’s College, SUNY New Paltz, Suffolk County Community College, and West Virginia University.

Learn more about the HOPE program: http://sb.cc.stonybrook.edu/news/medical/2016-05-18-hospitals-hope-program-inspires-high-school-students-future-in-health-science-medicine.php