The San Diego Community College District announces the Nursing Assistant Program for San Diego Unified District students.

On Tuesday, San Diego’s two largest educational institutions held their annual joint meeting at the Logan Memorial Education Campus.

The governing boards of the San Diego Unified School District and the San Diego Community College District are meeting to discuss partnerships and joint programs for the 2027 school year.

One new partnership, starting June 13, will allow high school students to earn nursing assistant certification. This program is currently implemented at the Cesar Chavez campus of the San Diego College of Continuing Education in Barrio Logan. It is offered in two sessions of 8 or 16 weeks.

The program includes Serena Espinosa and Jonathan Guerrero. They graduated from high school shortly before the pandemic destroyed the world and their career hopes.

“Oh yes, absolutely 100%! I had a direct path that I was going to work as a nurse and work at the same time, because the work that I had was very easy, ”said Espinoza. At the time, she worked at a restaurant before it closed permanently.

Espinosa has been forced to find another job, and she hopes to earn her nursing assistant certification this spring.

Guerrero graduated from San Diego High School and his original application for a nursing program at San Diego City College was rejected.

The nursing assistant program was his back-up plan. “At first I just took it as a way to get into the City College nursing program. But now that I’m here, it’s a really valuable experience to see what a real field will be like.”

This valuable nursing assistant experience is now offered to eligible San Diego United high school students. Upon completion of the program, these students will be able to apply for the State Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA) exam.