The Wrangell school district has applied for a major state grant that would pay for the headsets and software for a new virtual learning program to help students train for healthcare careers.
The district is in the running for a Rural Health Transformation Program grant at $600,000.
The initiative is titled “Grow Our Own: VR-Enabled K-12 Healthcare Certification Pipeline for Rural Alaska.”
Schools Superintendent Joshua Garrett, who submitted the grant proposal with school board approval, said the technology would give students a new opportunity.
The Alaska Department of Health last month selected health clinics, hospitals, tribes, local governments, school districts and other entities to apply for a share of the $272 million in federal funding Alaska received this year through the Rural Health Transformation Program.
Congress created the nationwide $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program last year.
After sifting through nearly 1,800 proposals, Alaska state officials narrowed down the potential projects to a list of just over 400 that will undergo further consideration this month. Wrangell made that first cut.
The Wrangell proposal program is primarily designed to assist students who want to become certified nursing assistants or pursue other high-demand healthcare careers.
