From the President

At the Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences, we’re proud of the many ways we’ve tried to get the word out about this new and unique opportunity for students using creativity, technology, and our deep knowledge of and feelings for our state and communities.

Along with the nuts-and-bolts of curriculum, partnerships, and fundraising, communication has been a priority from the get-go: Making sure families, educators, and communities hear about ASHS, understand it, and feel comfortable asking questions.

We’ve hosted large Zoom gatherings for families and separate ones for educators, offering them at different times of day to fit busy schedules. We’ve scheduled twice-weekly “drop-in” Zoom hours where anyone can pop in online to learn more or simply ask a quick question. And we’ve been regularly sharing updates and information through Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, and through a newsletter. Watching those online communities grow in followers and “likes” as more people discover what ASHS will offer when we welcome our first students this August has been thoroughly rewarding.

But if there’s one thing we’ve learned through all of this outreach, it’s that nothing replaces the power of meeting face to face.

Our visits across Alabama — to big cities and small rural communities alike — have been some of the most heartwarming moments in this journey. We’ve met students and families in school cafeterias, hospital conference rooms, and community gathering spaces in city halls and chambers of commerce. Those conversations have not only produced applicants and admitted students; they’ve also given us invaluable insight into the questions families are asking and the hopes students carry for their futures in healthcare.

So we’re opening our calendars even wider.

Over the next several weeks leading up to the April 27 application deadline, the ASHS leadership team is ramping up our travel schedule to grow our community with eager, current 8th and 9^th graders who would like to spend their high school years learning, training, and living in a community of like-minded teens focused on healthcare.

We would love to visit your middle school — or partner with multiple schools or HOSA chapters in your area for a shared session or their own visit — to introduce students to the possibilities ahead of them.

If you’re an educator or administrator who would like to host us, don’t delay. Please contact Kasani Bell right away to schedule a session, and our team will begin coordinating the logistics.

And check our calendar and social media (Facebook and Instagram) regularly to see if any sessions have been added in your area.

Every conversation we have reminds us why this school matters. Somewhere in your classrooms today may be a future nurse, physician, therapist, researcher, or healthcare innovator waiting to discover their path. Helping young people see a #FutureOfHealthcare through ASHS is one of the most meaningful things we can do together.

 

Ready to pencil you in!

Dr. Jimmy Martin

Sometimes a “Future of Healthcare” begins in a classroom or a science lab. Sometimes it ignites in a moment of crisis — an injury, an illness, a hospital stay — when a young person witnesses compassion in action firsthand. And sometimes, as in the story recently shared by Cindy Fisher and the Black Belt News Network, it takes hold over time at home, listening to a family member talk about their work.

Incoming ASHS freshman Blair McAdams has heard those stories for years. Her grandmother, Linde Bodle McAdams, has spent decades caring for patients as a nurse practitioner at Whitfield Regional Hospital — the very hospital that stands beside the future campus of the Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences and serves as our clinical partner. Blair didn’t just hear about healthcare. She learned what the presence of skilled and compassionate medicine meant to a community.

She saw the long days.

She heard about patients who faced transportation barriers, insurance struggles, and difficult recoveries. She shared in the victories over pain and uncertainty, learned what it was like to beat the odds.

And she understood something powerful: Healthcare is not simply a profession. It is service.

cision to attend ASHS is meaningful not only because she is part of our founding class but because she represents how careers in healthcare so often begin — through example.

For some students, that example is a family member like Linde. For others, it may be the nurse who stayed late to comfort them when they were frightened, the respiratory therapist who helped a grandparent breathe easier, or the physician assistant who patiently explained a diagnosis and offered hope to worried parents. Young people notice those moments more than we realize. Compassion leaves an imprint.

We are equally fortunate that students like Blair will now learn directly from professionals like Linde — not just hearing stories but participating through mentorship and shadowing experiences. They will see healthcare as it truly is: Teamwork, skill, resilience, and human connection.

Inspiration does not always come from a single person. Some students arrive at ASHS with an internal calling they can’t quite explain. They simply know they want to help people. They want purpose attached to their work. They want to matter where they live.

What excites me most is that these students already understand something many adults learn only later: Communities depend on caregivers who choose to commit and stay.

Rural Alabama does not just need more healthcare workers. It needs healthcare workers who feel connected — who understand their neighbors, their challenges, and their lives. Who are one of them. When a young person trains in a place like Demopolis, they are not just preparing for a job. They are preparing for stewardship.

One day soon, Blair may very well be walking the halls of Whitfield Regional Hospital alongside her grandmother. There and everywhere she works, Blair has already honored Linde McAdams’ legacy by choosing service.

At ASHS, we hope every student finds an example that guides them and then becomes an example for someone else.

Because the future of healthcare will not be defined by buildings alone. It will reflect the people who decide, early in life, that caring for others is who and where they want to be.

Finding inspiration everywhere,

Dr. Jimmy Martin

Even before our first classes open in August, ASHS has lessons to offer. Earlier this week, I was moved by remarks by State Sen. Minority Leader Bobby Singleton in an appearance before the Business Council of Alabama in Montgomery. When he was asked about the accomplishment of which he is most proud during more than 20 years in the Legislature, he did not hesitate:

The Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences.

“I put a lot of energy into that,” he said modestly. “It’s gonna be a beacon in our community that’s gonna uplift a lot of our students and healthcare in that area…a game changer.”

He spoke about it not as a program, not as a project, but as something personal that his belief and leadership shepherded through the Legislature — a long effort to give young people opportunity while strengthening the health of Alabama communities.

I want our families and future students to understand why that matters.

Schools like ASHS do not come into existence simply because they are good ideas. Many good ideas never make it past conversation. A school created by state law requires persistence, advocacy, and leadership willing to keep working long after the excitement fades and the hard questions — and even some squabbling — begin.

Gov. Kay Ivey recognized early what healthcare leaders across Alabama have been warning us for years: We do not just have a healthcare access problem. We have a workforce pipeline problem. Rural hospitals struggle to recruit nurses, therapists, technicians, and physicians. Communities sometimes lose access to services not because the need disappears but because the professionals are not there to provide them.

It wasn’t just Gov. Ivey and Sen. Singleton. It was the complete local delegation around our school. It was the numerous co-sponsors. It was the leadership of the Alabama House and Senate. All of them have been powerful in this guiding mission: If we want a different future for healthcare in Alabama, we must begin creating our workforce earlier. We must reach students while they are still forming their ambitions, still exploring what they believe is possible for their lives. And we must remove barriers that have traditionally kept talented students from even considering healthcare careers.

That idea became legislation, and that legislation created a state institution unlike any other, meeting all the requirements of a high-quality general education — but with a complete immersion in healthcare heightened by the fact that it will be a residential campus.

We’ve paid attention so far, duly so, to the philanthropic organizations and individuals who have stepped forward with extraordinary support, helping us build opportunities and facilities our students will benefit from for decades. We are deeply grateful for that investment. But ASHS ultimately exists because leaders on both sides of the aisle chose to act and  our state leaders have continued advocating for a solution they believe can change lives.

Leadership often means convincing others to believe in something before they can see it. That belief has helped provide the foundation to bring educators, healthcare partners, and families together around a shared purpose: Preparing young people for meaningful careers while strengthening healthcare in the communities they call home.

When we open our doors this August to our inaugural class, those students will not just be attending a new school. They will be stepping into an idea that our state leaders were willing to carry forward year after year until it became real. I suspect that is why Sen. Singleton calls it one of his proudest achievements. I suspect that is why Gov. Ivey named us, during her recent State of the State address, as one of the great accomplishments of her administration

One day, the true measure of this school will not be the buildings or even the programs. It will be the ASHS-educated nurse who returns to her hometown hospital, the therapist who keeps a clinic open in a rural county, the physician who chooses to serve a community that was once a healthcare desert, enriching the quality of life.

And that future began with leadership.

 

Always in awe of our breadth of support,

Dr. Jimmy Martin

We understand the careful consideration, the hesitant “We’re very interested — we’re just thinking it through” attitude. That’s exactly how families should approach an opportunity that could transform a young person’s future — especially one that has never been a possibility before, anywhere.

But there comes a point when interest needs to turn into action, doubt into faith — and we are reaching that moment as we populate our very first ASHS community with a freshman class and sophomore cohort.

Over the past several weeks, we’ve watched a growing number of families from throughout Alabama move from curiosity to commitment. The questions about what life will look like in this one-of-a-kind, healthcare-intensive residential high school are drilling down, and families and school leaders are engaging on a deeper level. Applications are flowing in, interviews being conducted, acceptances issued — and a growing number of young people already focused on a Future Of Healthcare are taking the leap.

That shift has been energizing for everyone. Families are beginning to picture their students here, learning with purpose, building friendships, and preparing for careers that will strengthen communities across Alabama. And school personnel are putting faces to what the Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences will look like in August, instead of seeing statistics and abstract profiles.

Our first Open House in January was proof of that momentum. Enthusiastic students and families filled the day with explorations and thoughtful conversation, and it confirmed something important: When ASHS is experienced up close, the dream becomes tangible.

We’ll build on that momentum March 7 with our second Open House at the first-year campus-within-a-campus at the University of West Alabama in Livingston. This event is designed for families ready to take the next step — those who have connected with us and started or completed the application process (and there’s still time to get your invitation). The day will include tours, lunch, Q&A sessions with school leaders and meetups with the amazing McCollough Institute for Pre-Medical Scholars from the University of Alabama, who are already beginning to mentor.

There are plenty of lump-in-the-throat events to witness — ceremonial signings of letters of commitment by students and families who are choosing to join this historic first class. That distinction matters. This is not simply an introduction — it’s a milestone moment for families who’ve chosen their path, and a powerful influence for those trying to make a decision.

The practical reality is this: Our space is finite, and timelines are real. The window to become part of this founding cohort is still open, but it will not remain open indefinitely.

We understand that educational decisions deserve careful thought. And we know that “being first,” pioneering uncharted paths, isn’t for everyone. Our team is here to answer questions frankly, provide clarity, and support families every step of the way, whatever direction they choose.

Yet historic opportunities move forward on a schedule. Students who accept the challenges of this first year are stepping up now — thoughtfully, intentionally, and with confidence — and they’ll help shape the future of ASHS and its traditions.

If your family has been exploring ASHS, this is the moment to lean in. Begin the application. Drop in during one of our twice-weekly Zoom Q&A opportunities with school leaders or inquire about in-person information sessions for groups. Once you’ve applied, join us March 7 to gather the information you need firsthand and move toward a decision that could shape your student’s future.

We are building something extraordinary — and we hope your family will be part of it.

Not in the homestretch yet, but rounding second,

Dr. Jimmy Martin

One of the most challenging aspects of my role at the Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences has been breathing life into a vision and helping to lay a foundation with enough detail and integrity to get families take the leap of faith and commit their precious youngsters to what is still largely invisible.

Now, one of the great privileges of my role is witnessing the development of trust that families are placing in that idea, vision, and a future that is a work-in-progress.

Recently, a parent shared a social media post celebrating her son’s early commitment to our inaugural freshman class, along with a video of him reading his acceptance letter and photos of his ceremonial signing at our open house. Like many others who have seen her post and commented, I was deeply moved.

What struck me most was not just the pride, although it was unmistakable, but the confidence behind the decision. Choosing a brand-new school is not the easiest path. It requires imagination, courage, and a willingness to step forward without a long history or reputation on which to lean. Families who choose ASHS are choosing to be pioneers alongside us.

This rising 9^th grader represents a generation that is already thinking differently about education and purpose. His love of science and healthcare, nurtured through family influence and personal curiosity, mirrors exactly why ASHS exists. We believe students should not have to wait until college to begin preparing for meaningful work that serves their communities. And they and their families should not have to take on crushing debt that can cloud their lives for decades.

The parent’s message also captured and shared something essential about ASHS: Possibility. Possibility in how students can earn college credit while still in high school. Possibility in internships and clinical experiences that expose them early to real healthcare environments. Possibility in graduating with dignified, rewarding options, whether that means pursuing further education or training, entering the workforce right away, or combining the two.

But beyond programs and pathways, what families are responding to is purpose.

Healthcare is ultimately about service, about showing up for others in moments of vulnerability and need. When students choose ASHS, they are not just selecting a specialized high school. They are stepping into a community that values compassion as much as competence, integrity as much as innovation.

As we prepare to welcome our first class this August, I am increasingly aware that the families who are joining us now are helping to shape the culture of ASHS from the very beginning. Their excitement, questions, hopes, and expectations are not background noise: They are part of the foundation we are building. And our team is grateful to be sharing that awesome responsibility and honor.

To every family who has already placed their trust in us, thank you. And to those still exploring what ASHS could mean for your child, I encourage you to commit now to learning more. Ask questions. Attend an information session, whether in person or online. Imagine what it could look like for your student to begin a healthcare journey early with support, intention, and purpose.

Being first is never simple, but it is often how meaningful change begins.

Our inaugural freshman class and sophomore cohort are taking shape now. If ASHS feels like the right fit for your student, this is the moment to explore, apply, and take that first step by visiting AlhealthcareHS.org.

 

Grateful for our growing community,

Dr. Jimmy Martin