Published Tuesday, March 26th, 2024
The Rural Health Opportunities Program (RHOP) is designed to help fill the need of health care providers in rural Nebraska.
Wayne State College announces that 49 students have been chosen for the highly selective Rural Health Opportunities Program (RHOP) for the Fall 2024 semester.
This number includes students who are full participants and students who are alternates in the program. RHOP’s benefits for full participants include a full-tuition scholarship at Wayne State, guaranteed admission to the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), and early course registration privileges at Wayne State. Alternate participants also receive a tuition waiver and early course registration privileges at Wayne State.
“This incoming class of RHOP students continues a long-standing tradition of welcoming some of the most academically proficient and dedicated students from rural Nebraska,” said Dr. Todd Young, coordinator of RHOP at Wayne State. “Wayne State has been a partner in RHOP since 1990, with 144 RHOP health professionals from Wayne State already serving in rural Nebraska and another 38 Wayne State RHOP students currently completing their education at UNMC.”
“This new class of students faces the same rigorous curriculum at Wayne State that has proven to be the foundation of knowledge they need to be successful at UNMC and beyond,” continued Young. “These incoming students will also benefit from the advising and mentoring of a faculty that has over 120 years of combined experience with RHOP. Wayne State will proudly challenge these incoming students to their limits, while supporting them along the way, to set them up for future successes.”
All students selected for the program must come from rural Nebraska because they know the unique needs of their community and are passionate about returning to their roots to serve its rural health care needs. RHOP students pursue their studies at Wayne State and UNMC, with the amount of time at each institution determined by the health field in which they are enrolled.
RHOP at Wayne State currently supports the health fields of Dental Hygiene, Dentistry, Medical Laboratory Science, Medicine, Nursing, Occupational Therapy, Pharmacy, Physical Therapy, Physician Assistant, and Radiography.
Students selected for RHOP for the Fall 2024 semester:
Dental Hygiene
Bloomfield – Madison Abbenhaus
Decatur – Morgan Compton
Edgar – Lexi Shuck
Randolph – Ella Scott
Springview – Katelyn Painter
Dentistry
Hebron – Caitlyn Mitchell
Osceola – Hayden Lavaley
Phillips – Kinnley Kearns
Seward – Kameron Dyer
Yutan – Chisum Wilson
Medical Lab Sciences
Minden – Rebekah Peterson
Medicine
Aurora – Sydney Thomas
David City – Emma Prochaska
Grand Island – Haylee Brandt
Norfolk – Cheyenne Rains
Verdigre – Summer Vesely
York – Savanna Loven
Nursing
Beatrice – Chase Raber
Columbus – Kamren Kudron
Hartington – Ella Bowers, Annika Kuehn
Lexington – JoHanna Esquivel-Gonzalez
Louisville – Emily Zitek
Norfolk – Cadence Hoffman
Randolph – Jacey Bartels, Amber Moon
Shelby – Jakob Kavan
Tilden – Kennedy Penne
Occupational Therapy
Norfolk – Camdyn Bates
Pharmacy
Atkinson – Miya Carey
Bennet – Callie Beeck
Blue Hill – Angel Runyan
Clarkson – Chloe Hanel
David City – Joseph Scribner
Norfolk – Mason Maas
Pleasant Dale – Sydney Hill
Syracuse – Jace Stinson
Wakefield – Hannah Armitage
Physical Therapy
Brainard – Sydney Pernicek
Columbus – Blake Barcel
Duncan – Ariel Loveless
Hampton – Brayden Dose
West Point – Isabel Hass
Physician Assistant
Hebron – Elle Sudbeck
Neligh – Mallory Belitz
Sidney – Siona Kshirsagar
Radiography
Broken Bow – Emma Taylor
Columbus – Ashlyn Cremers
Humphrey – Victoria Jarosz
Wayne State constantly explores new possibilities for health care partnerships in addition to RHOP to ensure students have a wide variety of fields from which to choose.
“In the last few years, Wayne State created a new pathway to nursing with UNMC, a dual-degree nursing pathway with Creighton, an early admission program with Kansas City University for the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine and Doctor of Psychology programs, and many others,” said Dr. Ron Loggins, dean of the School of Science, Health, and Criminal Justice at Wayne State. “While the pandemic was raging, Wayne State stayed true to its mission and continued to serve the students of Nebraska. Together with our partners, we designed new, exciting curriculum and program pathways that will prepare students for current and future workforce challenges.”
Learn more about RHOP at www.wsc.edu/rhop and Wayne State nursing programs at www.wsc.edu/nursing-programs.