Students at Hutchison High School have several unique opportunities to immerse themselves in realistic and often life-saving healthcare scenarios thanks in large part to health occupations teacher Megan Eilers. A registered nurse, Eilers has dedicated her life to both the healthcare and teaching professions, drawing from her experiences in the field to educate students about the realities of modern-day healthcare. Whether students are learning about CPR, First Aid, or the inner workings of a pharmacy technician’s responsibilities, her engaging classroom practices have yielded continuously growing class enrollment. When learning about the human body, students work together to create body posters, drawing and labeling each internal organ. Recently, Eilers provided students with the rare opportunity to participate in a placenta lab — and dissection — using three real donated placentas. Calling upon her own resources and connections, she frequently invites local healthcare professionals in to speak with students while also using their insight to align her programs with trends across the industry.
A natural collaborator, Eilers serves on the Health Science Advisory Committee, working with others to ensure consistency in learning objectives districtwide. She contributes her leadership and thoughtful input to the district’s professional learning community (PLC) health science meetings and professional development days, while her mentorship benefits both new and veteran health science teachers alike. Many look to Eilers as their Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) advisor, where she has led students to compete at the state and national levels. Additionally, having served on the Hutchison High leadership team, Eilers helped create a “Workplace Readiness” system for students, where they are scored on their workplace-ready skills.
Eilers is constantly finding exciting ways to make the journey into the healthcare field more accessible for high school students. Working with the university system and the district, her students can go on to receive their certified nursing assistant (CNA) certification upon completing her health occupations program. Students also go on to receive annual First Aid, CPR and pharmacy technician certifications, as well as participate in several programs offered by local healthcare facilities due in large part to Eilers’ diligence and support.
Eilers earned her Associate of Applied Science in nursing from the University of Alaska Anchorage in 2009 as well as both a Bachelor and Master of Science in nursing from Western Governors University in 2020 and 2022, respectively.
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