With 2026-2027 class registration quickly approaching, Sequoia’s academies have also started letting students sign up to join an academy this upcoming school year. With this also comes many doubts about these academies and how they help students.
One of these academies being the HCA (Health Careers Academy) which is an academic program open for students from 10th-12th that offers students preparation for careers in healthcare fields. This academy is made up of small classes as well as teachers that support students’ needs. These class sizes help students create a stronger community and deeper connections.
In addition to the smaller class sizes this academy offers, sophomore Angela Villalobos feels that joining this academy has helped her build a good community by creating closer relationships with other students. According to Villalobos these smaller class sizes have also helped her get the extra help she needs, in addition to opportunities that come with joining the HCA. Additionally Villalobos finds her academy elective Intro to Health really interesting due to what they learn.
“[Intro to Health] focuses on different topics, but right now we’re learning about babies and pregnancy and we get to take some robot babies home. And I feel like that’s a really cool experience to have,” Villalobos said.
Adding on to the opportunities and programs they offer, HCA teacher and the chair of the academy, Nichole Vaughan, depicts the academy’s small class environment as a ‘‘little family with each class’’ due to students building deeper connections as well as clear communication creating a stronger community. Throughout the field trips,volunteering opportunities and training’s, students of this academy develop new connections with people.
“[They] really pride [themselves] on being able to develop strong relationships, and I think that comes from the top down.[Us] teachers as a whole, it’s part of our mission to have good relationships with our students,” HCA Teacher Nichole Vaughan said.
The programs this academy prepares students for jobs related to health through the certifications they offer and hands-on learning activities. Some of these certifications include CPR certification through the Red Cross and first aid certification.
Aside from the multiple certifications they offer, they also have many internship programs some of these being through Stanford Medicine and Kaiser Permanente as well as the SPCA (The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) which is a non- profit organization that focuses on rescuing and treating abused or neglected animals. Another program that the HCA offers is the mentor program in which students in junior year get paired with a member of health careers communities in which they share their interests, plans and ideas. Aside from the training this academy offers to students they also have had training for teachers, some of these training’s being Narcan training and Stop the Bleed.
Furthermore, of the many classes that the HCA offers some are medical clinical 1 and medical clinical 2 as well as intro to health. One of the many units from intro to health being taking care of a robotic baby. This baby unit consists of taking the baby home and taking care of it for one day. Some of these babies have different personalities such as some of them being calm while others are less calm as well as some being calm during the day. According to senior Maya Pérez-Martinez, this unit had a strong impact on her understanding of parenthood and what parents deal with
“It didn’t [really] affect me during the day, but at night is when I had to experience what mothers go through, and what parents go through. I think it’s important to have that experience, especially as a teenager, to just kind of have empathy for what our parents went through, and if we would be able to handle that in the future,” Pérez-Martinez said.
Some of the multiple benefits of the academy being the small class sizes which, according to Pérez-Martinez has allowed her to “branch out and meet new people.” Aside from this the small classes have also helped her grow friendships and build relationships. Consequently, as for the HCA’s health related electives, these classes exclusively focus on what healthcare is and what it involves.
“Learning these things really prepares me for what I’m going to be learning in college and in the future, so it already gives me exposure and experience to what I want to be,” Pérez-Martinez said.
The HCA offers many volunteering opportunities aside from the usual health internships, one of these programs being with the SPCA, in which students go to this animal shelter and take care of the animals there. Adding back to these opportunities some of the benefits that come with joining this academy are field trips such as Hidden Villa which is a farm with a variety of animals. The HCA offers many opportunities for students academically, socially and many other ways.
“The best part of joining the Academy has to be learning real life skills and things that I [could] apply my skills to. We are [also] learning important things that we will need in real life, and I feel like that’s a topic that a lot of students touch when in school” Pérez-Martinez said.