DEMOPOLIS &045; Students from Demopolis High School completed the first semester of the Exploring Healthcare Study offered by the school.

The program was a joint effort by the high school and Bryan W. Whitfield Memorial Hospital to offer students interested in healthcare a chance to explore the possibilities of the field.

Danny Smith, with the hospital, said that 13 of the 16 students received an A in the class and three others received a B. He said that the class was a combination of classroom work learning the business side and clinical, patient work.

Students received a half credit for participating in the class that was geared at exposing them to the healthcare field. Espy said that the goal of the program was to help students interested in going into the field realize what they might be doing and to hopefully bring them back to the area after they receive training.

Other board members applauded the efforts of the students, the hospital and the school for the success of the program. They were of the opinion that programs such as these were what made the system excel.

Espy said that there was initial quite a few students interested in the program when the school announced its intentions to create it. He said that there were numerous students that applied and that applications were screened so that the first group through the program would remain small.

Espy said that opening the program to a year round event will help facilitate the number of other students that would like to participate. Smith said that he even received feedback by the first group of students on ways to improve the program for the next group.