MARTINSBURG — The Health Sciences and Technology Academy (HSTA) is a four-year program offered throughout the state where high school students follow a special curriculum focusing on health, science, technology and math.
HSTA helps students from low-income families pursue a degree in health sciences or STEM majors after graduating high school. Students learn from mentors and prepare special presentations in order to receive a HSTA waiver, which allows state-run colleges to forgive tuition costs.
The Eastern Panhandle HSTA program has 97 college graduates and 73 current college students. Out of all the students who participate in the program, 99% go to college after graduating high school.
Each HSTA meets once a week for around 90 minutes to go over the curriculum and other projects created by teachers and other mentors involved in the program. Their goal is to increase the number of African American and other underrepresented students pursuing degrees in health sciences and STEM majors and help increase the number of health professionals here in West Virginia.
Aaron Ruffner is the HSTA field site coordinator for the Eastern Panhandle. He talked about how HSTA is helping kids change their lives through hard work.
“It’s an opportunity for students to overcome transgressions and mediocrities in their life,” Ruffner said. “Very few people have fairy tale endings, and this program helps them get out of those situations.”
Ruffner himself went through many hardships. His mother passed away from a drug overdose during his first year of college, and for a time, he was homeless. Ruffner heard about HSTA as a college student and realized how it could have helped him when he was younger. Many students who go through the program are struggling with similar situations.
“I took the position because my love for helping people goes beyond the classroom,” Ruffner said. “I used to work as a special education teacher. It was a great job, though a difficult one. But I heard about the HSTA program from a friend in college. I asked him what it was, and he told me it helped pay for his tuition. I thought, ‘Why didn’t I hear about it before?’”
Students prepare community research projects to present at the State Science Symposia, which is held on college campuses across the state in the spring. Students throughout the Eastern Panhandle traveled to Morgan County to participate in the symposia. This year, Martinsburg High School was the Eastern Panhandle HSTA winner.
“We aren’t trying to find the best out of the best, but we end up finding the best of the best,” Ruffner said.
Ruffner is currently looking for someone to fill positions for the HSTA program at Musselman and Martinsburg high schools. Both schools need someone to stay with the kids after school once a week and help the students go through the curriculum.
For more information about the program, visit https://health.wvu.edu/health-sciences-and-technology-academy/ or contact Aaron Ruffner at aaron.ruffner@hsc.wvu.edu.
