The TGR Learning Lab Anaheim welcomed students from four local high schools on Feb. 28, 2025, to compete in a Student Showcase, culminating a healthcare career explorer program held throughout the school year.
A panel of Providence professionals representing diverse healthcare careers joined students from Kennedy, Magnolia, Savanna and Western High School as they presented solutions to challenges outlined in the Community Health Needs Assessment.
Piloted in 2024 as a component of TGR Foundation’s career-connected learning programming, the student showcase gives students the opportunity to gain real-world experience and build transferrable skills.
“My overall experience was really fulfilling,” said Alexandria a junior from Magnolia High School. “I liked how there’s a bunch of similar topics, but everybody has different solutions that they originally came up with themselves.
Students used a variety of skills including public speaking, technology, collaboration, organization and graphic design. Judges were impressed by the use of personal experiences and extended research beyond the CHNA to shape their recommendations.
Richard’s experience caring for his late grandmother and translating due to language barriers as she battled cancer was instrumental to his team. During the presentation he outlined the challenges and pressures of his role. He left the audience with a moving reflection underscoring the impact of their proposed solutions to keep information accessible: ‘How would you feel if your parent’s health was lost in translation?’
Covering a broad range of issues in the local community, presentations offered innovative health care solutions for homelessness, elderly care and domestic violence, substance abuse and more.
After hearing from 17 teams and assessing their presentations and recommendations, judges collaborated to select a winning team from each school including Alex N., Steven N., Richard H. of Magnolia High School who also claimed the Student Choice Award, a new component of the showcase decided by student votes from each team.
“Us winning is a testament to how far we’ve gone and the effort that we’ve put into this, so, I’m proud,” said Richard after learning of his team’s victory. “I had to insert a lot of my personal life into this project, and I thought that it was really impactful. Those experiences really fueled my motivations as a person. There was a lot of great competition; we were all in a fair fight.”
Olivia J, Sofiyah S., Jazmine O. and Brianna A. from Savanna high school provided solutions for “Mental Health for Adults.” A presentation on Accessibility in Daily Life for the Elderly led Mia V, Suri L, Sira S., Aimee T. and Rebecca N. from Kennedy High School to a winning position. Anthony B., Enrique and Sayra F. of Western High School rounded out the winning teams.
In addition to pizza parties to celebrate their victories, members of the teams will have their solutions considered for future implementation in the Community Health Implementation Plan. Select students will also have the opportunity to serve on a community advisory council as the first student participants.
For more information on career-connected learning opportunities provided through the TGR Learning Lab Anaheim, visit TGRFoundation.org/career.
