On July 26th, Chicago AHEC and the young participants in its Community Health Worker Youth Pathway program celebrated the culmination of the 2024 program.

The CHW Pathway program provides high school students in the Chicago area with a valuable opportunity to explore the world of Community Health Work and discover their future career paths.

The program is a paid six-week course for rising high school juniors and seniors. Through weekly virtual classes, field trips to local health facilities, and student-led community health projects, the course provides participants with the background to go on to become community health workers.

At the festive culmination, Health & Medicine board member Joseph Zanoni, who teaches environmental and occupational health science at the UIC School of Public Health, gave a heartwarming and inspiring graduation speech. The young people gave presentations highlighting their work and what they learned. The 2024 program was organized and led Chicago AHEC director Ronisha Edwards-Elliott, Health & Medicine equity intern Jessica Coffee, and Maureen Burns who started the CHW program at Malcolm X College.

The Christopher Family Foundation provided generous support to make the program possible.

We wish all the outstanding students the best success, wherever your career takes you!

Congrats to Kimberly Ayala, Alessandra Carranza, Alexsandra Esquivias, Lutefya Frett, Jahleel Harris, Robert Love, Abygail Martinez, Isabela Martinez, Isabela Medina, Andrea Midnight, Yara Ocampo, Julissa Ochoa, Kristina Smith, and Micah Johnson for successfully completing the 2024 Community Health Worker Youth Pathway program.