Duncan High School nursing students practice nursing skills online

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A specialty high school isn't letting COVID-19 slow their students down on their path toward success.

When Duncan Polytechnical High School went online, senior nursing students had to get creative.

"I don't have any siblings, so I'm the one using the teddy bear," said senior nursing student Jacquelin Morales. "It's a lot harder because you don't have a real-life patient talking back to you, so you have to take care of both sides of communication."

The high school program prepares students for a career in nursing, but when classrooms closed their doors, staff faced a new challenge.

"What I do for my students is I record my daughter doing the skill in my home," said Senior Clinical Instructor Marina Diaz. "She performs the skill, I post it on Google Classroom for my students to review, I give them a skill check-off sheet and then they submit videos of them doing a return demonstration of the skill."

Students stepped up to the task.

"The students proved to be creative and resilient because they do not have a hospital bed in their home, they do not have the necessary materials you'd have in the classroom, so it's a lot of pretending," continued Diaz.

"Adapting how to upload the videos because that's something I hadn't done before, but now we've been doing it for several weeks, and we're more comfortable with the format, and we do have time to practice and perfect," said Morales.

Several of the senior Duncan nursing students plan on continuing their education in the medical field at Fresno City College this fall.