Seniors Emilie Terrell, Diana Calijau Quintero and Grace Read are enrolled in the LaGrone Academy Health Science program. Each of the three has a goal of becoming a Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA) upon graduation in the spring. 

Recently, the trio visited the Ann Windle School for Young Children to provide free health screenings to the students in the Head Start program. Despite being seniors with an eye on graduation, their visit to Ann Windle brought back a flood of childhood memories. 

“Ahh, look at them on the playground, they look so cute,” said Emilie, laughing. “Seeing them playing and just having fun makes me wish I was still in Pre-K sometimes.”

The medical assistant students were performing body mass index (BMI) screenings for the students enrolled in Head Start. The program follows federal guidelines to provide parents with screenings to promote health. The state of Texas mandates that all students attending the Head Start programs must have BMI health screenings upon their enrollment. 

“Having the students in the LaGrone nursing program provide these screenings is a nice benefit to many of our families,” said Megan Wilson, school nurse at Windle. “The partnership we have with the LaGrone Health Science Department provides a great experience for our students in the Medical Assistant program. These BMI screenings that you see today consist of height and weight measurements.” 

Becoming a CCMA is one of the many certification programs offered at the LaGrone Academy. Formerly referred to as the ATC, LaGrone Academy is Denton ISD’s high school of choice and was established to sharpen the district’s focus on college and career readiness. 

The academy, housed at the LaGrone Advanced Technology Complex, serves juniors and seniors who desire flexible scheduling and the opportunity to finish CTE certifications without the burden of traveling to one of the district’s four comprehensive high schools for other courses.