STOCKTON - After lugging several boxes of donated medical scrubs into the gym at Health Careers Academy, Cameron Lee paused for a moment and considered the true significance of the gift.
"It's good to know the community is helping us and knows that we can really change the future and make a big impact on society," said the 15-year-old Lee, a sophomore at Stockton Unified's small health high school on the University Park campus.
The school held an assembly Wednesday morning celebrating the gift of about 200 sets of new and used scrubs, which were collected from 34 prison hospitals in California, including the recently opened facility off Arch Airport Road.
Larry Fong, the chief executive officer for Stockton's new $900 million California Health Care Facility, said he hoped the gift would provide encouragement to the nearly 400 students at the school.
"There's a message behind it, that there are folks out there who care and are committed to your mission," Fong said.
Earlier, he had addressed HCA's freshmen, telling them, "Every one of you has the opportunity to choose your career path and chase your dreams. It can be done."
In 2011, California Correctional Health Care Services helped with the establishment of HCA by presenting a $700,000 grant to the school. HCA's goal is to help create a local work force for the new prison facility, which employs about 2,400 corrections officers, psychiatric and medical technicians, nurses and doctors, and more.
The school served about 100 freshmen when it opened two years ago. Its enrollment doubled in its second year, and this year it has doubled again and serves ninth-, 10th- and 11th-graders, Principal Traci Miller said.
According to the most recent data available from the California Department of Education, nearly 90 percent of HCA's students come from low-income backgrounds. The cost of medical scrubs can add up, Fong said, because some health care workers can go through several sets a day.
Though he is a 10th-grader, Lee is only in his first year at HCA. He said he attended Lincoln High School last year but transferred to HCA because he believes it will better prepare him for his career goal. He wants to be a cardiovascular surgeon.
"This was a good focus for my education," Lee said. "It's a really small school. You get to know everybody around you, so you feel more comfortable."
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