Using data of the Graduation rate in Grand Junction, and in person interviewing with nurses, seeing what the future of education and health care will look like in the next five years in Grand Junction, Colorado.
Story By: Geon Nielsen
Photos By: Grace Metcalf
Grand Junction is home to over 68,034 people. Of those people, 23.9% of people with jobs in Grand Junction work in the Education and Health care system. Saint Mary’s Hospital is one of the only hospitals from Denver to Salt Lake. The Grand Valley also has a college, C.M.U., right in the middle. That would answer why there would be so many educators and healthcare workers.
In Grand Junction, many schools in District 51 are closing down left and right, with three schools closing this past fall. People’s first reaction was, why are so many schools shutting down with such a high influx of teachers?
The Deflux in Schools and Jobs In Healthcare:
With a low number of students to fill the classrooms at each of these schools, schools like Fruita Middle School are being shut down due to grant reconfiguration. With fewer and fewer families living in Grand Junction and more retired people, the school district has no choice but to close schools and transfer students to other schools to help them get a better education while also filling classrooms back up.
While, those trying to get a job in the health care system for the last couple of years have ran into problems as well. It has been very hard to get a job in the medical field in Grand Junction due to the demand for people trying to enter this career path.
Elizabeth Hudson, a Nurse who Graduated from C.M.U. in 2021, is now working out in Wyoming. After talking to her about nursing and the job hunt, it became clear how hard it truly is to get a nursing job in Grand Junction.
“My first choice for work was Grand Junction.” Elizabeth stated. “But after applying everywhere I could I never heard back from anywhere so I had to look at option two which was Wyoming .”
The St. Mary’s Hospital website shows that they employ almost 2,000 people in Grand Junction; one would think that there would be a lot of open positions. However, with very few open positions, a large demographic is fighting for the same view of jobs.
St. Mary’s Regional Hospital has 310 beds, which makes it the largest hospital between Denver and Salt Lake City. April 2024, Grand Junction, CO. (Grace Metcalf)
With schools shutting down and teachers out of work, what will the future of education look like in the next five years?
Growth for the future:
According to the Orange and Black article, the new G.J. High School will open in August 2024. The new high school is roughly 265,000 square feet. At the same time, the school can teach over 1,600 students. This school opens with all the new amenities, like new classrooms, a gym, a football field, and all the new resources the school will have. More high schoolers are projected to enroll and stay enrolled than drop out, with the graduation rate in the past three years rising from 79% to 81%.
Grand Junction High School has been located on three different campuses over the years, opening at the current 1400 N. Fifth St. location in 1956. April 2024, Grand Junction, CO. (Grace Metcalf)
While looking into the loss of schools around the district, I got to Talk to Jan Meister, a director of R.E.C. RiverSide Education after-school care at each school in the district. Each school has 52 slots for students to have a safe environment after school. At each school, there is even a waitlist at some schools, with over 60 kids waiting to get into the program. Ms. Jan is proud of the work that has come out of the R.E.C. program and has seen it grow.
“ As we expanded to each school, I never would have thought we would have so many students wanting to participate in the program,” states Jan Meister.
The program’s growth shows that education is still thriving in the valley. In the last two years, the program has gained over 150 new students from the district. Given the number of students coming in each year, the program’s goal is to hire two new tutors at each school to increase the number of students.
Chipeta Elementary School is ranked #550 in Colorado Elementary Schools. Schools are ranked on their performance by state-required tests, graduation, and how well they prepare their students for high school. April 2024, Grand Junction, CO. (Grace Metcalf)
“ If we had three more tutors at schools, we would be able to have 25 more students at each school.” Explains Jan.
The increase in students entering the program every year shows that education is not suffering and decreasing. The closer schools are, the more positively impact education in Grand Junction. Bringing students together with programs like R.E.C. makes a fun and safe environment for students to learn after school, helping push kids’ education to its fullest and getting them on track to graduate.
With the information on District 51’s website about the highschool graduation rate and how it has risen about 79% for the first time in 14 years. Here is a graph to show the project rate of growth in the graduation rate factoring the range of the past five years to find out what the next five years will look like. With the Colorado and National graduation rate also on the graph.
A graph Showing the National Graduation rate against the Colorado graduation rate, and the Grand Junction Graduation rate. By Geon Nielsen
The healthcare workforce is only starting to multiply, with more urgent care popping up around the Grand Valley area, opening more jobs for doctors and nurses. It is a booming market for the future. However, in the last couple of years, getting a job in the medical field in Grand Junction has been challenging due to the demand of people trying to enter this career path.
As more urgent care centers are built in the Grand Valley area, the job market will increase, allowing more nurses and doctors to use their degrees in Grand Junction.
With all the new urgent care popping up in the Grand Valley, many positions and jobs will open for people in the nursing career path in the valley in the future. With more urgent care, it’s only a matter of time before students who graduate from C.M.U. or people who live in Grand Junction will be able to use what they learned in school in the real world.
Education and graduation rates are still rising, with schools closing down in the district. The data in the last five years shows that this trend is not going to stop. Graduation rates and education will still be growing in the next five years, showing steady growth that is the future of education in Grand Junction. With new schools, educational programs, and funding, the graduation rate will still be increasing in the next five years.
Grand Junction High School was built to last 75 years. April 2024, Grand Junction, CO. (Grace Metcalf)
With more urgent care and hospitals being built, the job search in Grand Junction will soon slow down as more students getting their degrees will have a better chance of pursuing a job here—bringing future jobs in Grand Junction for people looking to work in the healthcare force. The future’s looking bright, and in the next five years, jobs in both education and health care will only get better and brighter.
blockpartygj.net 