25-04-2025
GWAHCA Career & College Fair: Preparing Students For Life After High School
WACO, Texas (FOX 44) — It wasn't a typical school day at the Greater Waco Advanced Health Care Academy (GWAHCA) on Thursday. Instead of classrooms and lectures, students were met with a room full of opportunity.
Representatives from local hospitals, nursing homes, higher education institutions, and even the U.S. Army filled the building for a career fair designed to connect students with future paths in health care and beyond.
This event was accessible to students in Waco, Troy, Bruceville-Eddy, Chilton, and Midway Independent School Districts, as well as the Methodist Children's Home.
'Our hope at GWAHCA is to open up every single door of opportunity for our students,' said Mark Ducklow, a counselor at the academy. 'Whether that's going straight into the workforce, going to college, or joining the military—all those are open to them.'
Partners at the event included McLennan Community College, Tarleton State University, Waco Family Medicine, and more.
For seniors like Alejandra Limones of University High School, the experience was both eye-opening and reassuring.
'They're all here because it gives a lot of us opportunities and a lot of insights on what we could do or what we want to do,' Limones said. 'So it's a really big, helpful thing.'
Limones aspires to become a neonatal nurse after high school.
GWAHCA offers students industry certification courses in areas such as certified nursing assistant (CNA) and certified clinical medical assistant (CCMA), providing many with the credentials to begin working in the health care field right after graduation.
'This is our way to kind of culminate all of that and allow them to network and get the opportunity to interact with some of our local organizations and schools,' Ducklow said.
Whether students are headed to college, the military, or straight into a health care career, GWAHCA leaders say the event was about one thing: empowering students to take the next step.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
