To celebrate the 10th birthday of Abilene ISD’s first magnet school, Holland Medical High School is hosting a ceremony, reception and open house Friday, April 20, at its campus at Hardin-Simmons University.
The public is invited to attend the event, which will begin at 1:30 p.m. with a ceremony at HSU’s Woodward-Dellis Recital Hall, located next door to the high school. A reception and open house will follow at the Holland Health Science Building.
Holland Medical High School first opened during the 2007-2008 school year, culminating a journey that began four years earlier with a task force recommendation to start a health science magnet school. The vision became a reality thanks to many generous donors, most notably Dr. Scotty Holland, an Abilene High and Hardin-Simmons University alumnus whose large contribution helped create a state-of-the-art health science facility that bears his name.
The unique partnership between Hardin-Simmons and AISD has allowed more than 2,000 students and counting to benefit from the specialized educational mission the district’s first magnet program. Today, Holland offers courses in Health Science Certified Nursing Assistant, Certified Medical Assistant, Pharmacy Technician, Phlebotomy, Registered Dental Assistant, Anatomy and Physiology, Microbiology, Advanced Placement Language and Composition and American Literature.
Students at Holland have the opportunity to earn among eight healthcare related certifications and work closely with Abilene healthcare professionals through clinical rotations and internships. The Holland experience has provided many students with a springboard to further their healthcare education beyond high school. From there, many have become registered nurses, physical therapists, respiratory therapists, physicians and more.
While there are too many successful former students to mention them all by name, here are a few “spotlight” graduates from Holland Medical High School:
- Briana Money is in her third year of residency at the North Colorado Family Medical Center in Greeley, Colorado. Her medical rotations have taken her to Houston, Thailand, and Alaska.
- Marie Dufitumukiza, MD, came to Abilene as a refugee student. Dr. Dufitumukiza is a pediatric physician for the Division of Neonatology at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia.
- Alyssa Nieto earned her Doctorate of Physical Therapy at Hardin-Simmons University and is employed at the Health South Rehabilitation Hospital in Fort Worth.
- Josh Combs utilizes his Masters of Health Administration as a Medical Laboratory Scientist for Transfusion and Tissue Services at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas.
- Dulce Mancine earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and currently serves as a registered nurse for Cook Children’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Fort Worth.
- Alfred Bayaton earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a Masters in Biomedical Science. He is currently a Graduate School Human Gross Anatomy Teaching Assistant at Mississippi College and is an aspiring medical student.
- Michelle Grove is a respiratory therapist at Shannon Medical Center in San Angelo.
- Jordan Sanders studied at Texas Tech University’s School of Nursing to earn a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and is a registered nurse in Cardiology for Hendrick Medical Center.
- Jacob Hamilton lives in Beaumont and is an Environmental Investigator for the Texas Commission on Environmental Control.
