MAKING LAS VEGAS A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE

Arbor View High School offers special program for students

By Beth Fisher

CREATED Nov. 9, 2012

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  • Arbor View High School is offering a bio-medical program to its students. Video by ktnv.com

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Las Vegas, NV (KTNV)  -- A Clark County public school teacher is making Las Vegas a better place to live.  She is passionate about teaching, she loves her students, and she she helped bring a bio medical program to Arbor View High School.

 Allison Halpin has been teaching science to our kids for 12 years. Today, students in her bio medical class are dissecting sheep hearts in an effort to understand why a fictional mystery woman died in her home.
 
Halpin says, "Normally a student has to go to a magnet school to get a program like this. These kids are able to have a comprehensive high school experience, and go to football games and dances."
 
Jordan is a bio med student. She wants to study medicine, but wanted to remain an Aggie. "I  applied to other magnet schools but all of my friends were coming to Arbor because it's the school we're zoned for. When I found out they were having a bio med program it was just the cherry on top."
 
Students who are accepted in to this program want to pursue medical careers. But even if they change their mind, Halpin says this class is changing the way they think. "The big thing my kids have learned at this point is they can ask me a question. I'm not going to answer it. I say, 'That'a a good question. go find the answer'." 
 
Bio Med is part of a program called Project Lead the Way created by Purdue University.  It isn't cheap, so in addition to teaching, Allison and her Arbor View colleagues are writing grants and looking for business partners to fund the program.