Pre-Nursing
Pre-Nursing
Start patient carebefore yougraduate.
Learn patient care, vital signs, medical terminology, and clinical skills, then use them on real patients. You'll train toward the Ohio CNA credential plus national certifications in phlebotomy and patient care.
CNA in a Semester
Your nurse aide credential takes less than one semester. After that you can be working in healthcare, and paid for it.
2 Years
Junior and senior year. A senior-only option is available, but you'll miss a full year of lab time and credential prep.
No Tuition
Lab fees are typically a few hundred dollars. Payment plans are available.
College Credit
Includes college credit for Medical Terminology, which transfers into most healthcare degrees.
The CNA credential is issued by the Ohio Department of Health and requires state-approved training hours and a competency exam. Age and clinical placement rules are set by the state and by each clinical site.
Credentials You Can Earn
Every one of these is earned by passing the exam. We get you ready. The score is yours.
OHIO DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
Certified Nursing Assistant
- Direct patient care and daily living support
- Vital signs and measurements
- Safe lifting, transfers, and mobility
- Infection control and patient safety
- Elder care training
- State-approved clinical hours and exam
NATIONAL HEALTHCAREER ASSOCIATION
National Certifications
- Certified Phlebotomy Technician
- Certified Clinical Medical Assistant — doctors’ offices, clinics, urgent care
- Certified Patient Care Technician — hospitals
The CNA takes less than a semester, so you are employable early rather than at the end of two years. It is a state credential listed on the Ohio nurse aide registry, which employers check directly, and it is the most common way nursing students pay their way through school, because hospitals hire CNAs and work around class schedules. You will also complete Chemical Dependency Counselor Assistant (Phase I) and Stop the Bleed.
Real Patients. Real Skills.
Healthcare is technical work, but most of it is done with your hands on another person. You practice the skills in the lab, then use them with people who actually need the care.
- Vital signs, measurements, and charting
- Bathing, feeding, and daily living care
- Safe lifting, transfers, and positioning
- Drawing blood and specimen collection
- EKGs and basic clinical procedures
- Medical terminology, anatomy, and physiology
- Infection control and patient safety
- Talking with patients and their families
In the labHospital beds, patient care equipment, and clinical supplies set up the way a real unit is, so the skills transfer the first time you use them on a patient.
Why WCCC
You work with real patients
We hold agreements with healthcare facilities across the region, so you do your hands-on hours in working clinical settings with real patients. That experience is what the field expects, and it is hard to get any other way at your age.
Keep your home school
You're still part of your home high school. Graduate with your class, and keep playing sports, going to prom, and showing up for homecoming.
Steady demand
About 203,300 nursing assistant openings are projected each year through 2035. Pay starts at a median of $42,260, and the ladder from there is real: LPNs earn a median of $64,400 and registered nurses $97,550, with 180,800 RN openings a year.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, May 2025 wage data and 2025–2035 projections.Where This Can Lead
This program is a head start, not the finish line. When you graduate, you'll have real options:
Start working
CNA or patient care tech in a hospital, or a clinical medical assistant in a clinic or urgent care
Keep training
Nursing school for your LPN or RN, working as a CNA to help pay for it
Keep building
RN, then specialty units, or further into practitioner and advanced practice roles
Take a Look Around
Applications open December 2.
See the lab before you apply.