Bentonville schools' program to expand with help from Walton organizations
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Alice Walton's organizations plan to work with high school students pursuing careers in health care and other fields, and the students could have a building at Walton's future Bentonville health care campus.
Why it matters: Northwest Arkansas needs more health care workers both to serve its growing population and to treat patients from surrounding rural areas. A 2019 report commissioned by the Northwest Arkansas Council recommended creating a more robust pipeline with health care education, Alice L. Walton Foundation spokesperson Diane Carroll noted.
Driving the news: The Alice L. Walton Foundation and Walton's nonprofit Heartland Whole Health Institute announced plans to partner with Bentonville Public Schools on its planned expansion of the Ignite Professional Studies program that offers high school juniors and seniors experience in career pathways including health sciences.
- The foundation is considering paying for and constructing a building on the planned campus that would be used for Ignite, Carroll confirmed to Axios.
Catch up quick: The foundation announced in February it had purchased about 100 acres in Bentonville to develop a health care campus, which will start with cardiovascular care. Preliminary designs for a Center for Advanced Specialty Care outpatient facility on the campus were released in November.
- The foundation and Heartland Whole Health Institute have agreements with Mercy Health System and Cleveland Clinic.
The intrigue: More than 1,000 Bentonville students applied for Ignite this year, but the program only had space for 600, Ignite director Jessica Imel told Axios. The goal is to eventually have space for 1,500 students and to include students from Decatur, Fayetteville, Gentry, Gravette, Pea Ridge, Rogers, Siloam Springs and Springdale.
- Ignite has 10 pathways. Four of them — health sciences, business, technology and engineering — will be open to the other school districts and potentially be housed at the new health care campus. Jobs in business, technology and engineering interact with health care, Imel noted.
- The plan is also to add behavioral health, maternal health and biotechnology pathways to the health sciences program, which currently offers emergency medicine, pre-nursing, integrative health and medical assistance. The additions are in response to the area's workforce needs, she said.
What they're saying: The students will be able to work with professionals from Mercy and Cleveland Clinic, Carroll said.
- In addition to gaining experience and even certifications, students can also learn in high school if a career isn't right for them before investing lots of time and money into pursuing it, Imel said
Between the lines: Many details are still being worked out, Carroll and Imel said. Transportation plans for students from outside Bentonville and the number of spaces that would be designated for certain school districts is TBD, Imel said.
What's next: Any building for Ignite would open sometime after 2028, as the Center for Advanced Specialty Care is tentatively set to open in December 2028, Carroll said.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to clarify that it is the number of spaces for certain school districts that is TBD (not whether spaces will be designated for them).