The Chadron State Rural Health Career Fair includes about 230 high school students and about 70 parents and advisors and another 40 of us facilitators at the college and health profession school level. Students come from 4 states. Chadron coordinates the event and recruits local and regional people to give talks and answer questions. This also is a chance for them to market the
Rural Health Opportunities Program, an early admission track for seniors who choose to go to Chadron.It also gets me a chance to see what is going on in rural areas in the region. I would encourage you to work with rural student interest groups and others to have such fairs, especially on small college campuses. They are important to helping rural kids learn the ropes about getting to college and also to professional training. It helps them keep their dreams alive. We also have one at Omaha, but my preference is a rural college campus by far! We encourage the students and help them learn the next steps and try to get them to work with someone as a mentor or advisor for the long haul. We advise them to work with local docs as much as they can to get shadowing and service projects, etc. More on this at
PreProfessional Advice and Information Be sure to pass this on to any rural teachers, parents of any kids interested in rural practice, etc.Such programs can help reverse the centralization process that is killing small towns. Small colleges are indeed the breeding grounds of young rural professionals, and are on the endangered species list along with the rest of us.
Centralization and Regionalization
Best Models Admissions or Complete Rural School