6-minute read

On Friday, July 31, 45 high schoolers will walk across the stage at Southeastern University and receive their first white coats.

For the graduates of Lakeland Regional Health’s (LRH) Discover Program, the ceremony will be the culmination of four weeks spent delving into the healthcare field.

“This program is multifold,” said Lauren Springfield, associate vice president of community health at LRH. It teaches health literacy, serves as a pipeline to jobs in the medical field, provides mentorship, and creates meaningful relationships.

The state of Florida could face a shortage of 59,100 nurses and 18,000 physicians by 2035, according to the 2023 Workforce Report by the Florida Hospital Association.

While some jobs in healthcare can be fulfilled by those with a high school diploma, many require an advanced degree.

“A lot of our issues can be addressed by these young people right here,” Springfield said.

In Polk County, 17.1% of residents have completed a bachelor’s degree, 9.6% have earned an associate degree, and only 9.4% hold a graduate or professional degree, according to the United Community Indicators dashboard by United Way of Central Florida and GiveWell Community Foundation.

“How do we close the gap? We do it with them,” Springfield said. “But we have to show them.
You can’t be what you can’t see. And so you have to show them that they can do all of these things.”

Pathfinders, Innovators, Trailblazers, and Visionaries

Students who apply for the program come from different backgrounds. Some are enrolled in Polk County Public Schools’ medical career academies, others join the program because they have an interest in medicine. A variety of experiences creates more colorful discussions and helps students learn to work as a team, Springfield said.

Vincent Soriano, 15, who will be a junior in the Cambridge program at Winter Haven Senior High, said he applied for the program because, “I have a big dream to be a cardiothoracic surgeon. It’s big, but I feel like I could do it.”

On the first day of the program, participants are divided into four groups — Pathfinders, Innovators, Trailblazers, and Visionaries. “They’re given a patient,” Springfield said. “They are given facts about the patient, and they have four weeks to determine how they’re going to diagnose this patient.”

As students develop a plan for their patient’s care, they can reach out to their Discover guides and the various presenters that they meet as part of the program.

At the end of the four weeks, groups present their conclusions and act out a simulation to show the patient’s journey from arrival to diagnosis to recovery.

The student’s journey

On day one, the students earned their CPR/AED certification. They met with Polk Fire Rescue to learn how patients are treated and triaged in the field. That same week, students met the emergency department team and a trauma surgeon and participated in hand-on simulations.

Students practice suiting up for a sterile environment at Lakeland Regional Health’s 2026 Discover Program. | Anna Toms, LkldNow

Week two and three focused on care after patients are admitted to the hospital. Students met with respiratory therapists, visited the Bannasch Institute for Advanced Rehabilitation Medicine, explored the hospital’s labs, and met with pharmacists to dive into “medical math.”

Soriano said the Discover Program has broadened his interests. “I’ve been exposed to so many other jobs that are intertwined with medicine. … I’ve talked to some nurses. I’ve also talked to a few physical therapists, and they’ve piqued my interest, and I might want to start chasing those as well.”

The program also includes a college fair, a resume workshop with Florida Southern College, and mock job interviews. A counselor from Harrison School for the Arts met with students to discuss college applications and scholarships. MidFlorida Credit Union led a workshop on financial literacy and budgeting. 

The students will spend their last day at Southeastern to tour the campus, visit dorm rooms, and meet with professors in the College of Natural & Health Sciences.

“There’s a whole other side of things that you have to know, right?” said Springfield. “The soft skills.”

Discover 2.0

The program doesn’t end when students graduate. 

Twenty-two of 39 students from the first cohort returned in 2026 for Discover 2.0, an intensive week-long program with even more specific hands-on experiences. These students had the opportunity to shadow in different hospital departments, learned to do a lumbar puncture, better known as a spinal tap, and met with the health department to learn about outbreak crisis management.

Participants in Discover 2.0 meet with officials from the Polk County Health Department to learn about outbreak crisis management. | Anna Toms, LkldNow

Gabby Davis, who turns 17 on Wednesday, July 29, is going into her senior year at the medical academy at George Jenkins High School and is in her second year in the Discover Program.

“I always knew I wanted to be a nurse,” Davis said. “I didn’t know what type of nurse I wanted to be.
And last year, we went into the emergency room department, and this is gonna sound really gross, but I saw a bone sticking out somebody’s leg. I was like, okay, this is what I want to do.”

“I just love helping people. I love to talk to people,” Davis said. “I just love seeing a situation and knowing I can help them, and it just puts a smile on my face.”

Springfield said that three students started working for LRH immediately after last year’s program ended. One of them, Kaden Weatherford, who will speak at this year’s graduation ceremony, works in a support role in the LRH operating room and is currently in nursing school.

The next phase for these students will be mentorship, to “partner them with a provider or with someone that is actively pursuing what they want to do so that we can coach them along the way,” Springfield said. Participants can also reach out for recommendation letters and resume guidance.

Participants have gone on to enroll at well-known schools, including the University of Florida, Florida State University, Bethune-Cookman University, Georgia Southern University, and Southeastern University.

Inspired to do something different

LRH begins accepting applications for the Discover Program in January. They received 273 applications and accepted around 16% of students in 2026. 

The program meets on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. for four weeks in July. There is a strict attendance policy, but Springfield said attendance was near perfect most days in 2026. 

Students bring their own lunches or buy lunch on Mondays and Wednesdays, and local businesses, like MidFlorida Credit Union, the YMCA of West Central Florida, and Black & Brew, sponsor lunch on Fridays. 

“Our goal is to make sure that they walk away with something that not only will help them in life, but maybe even inspire them to do something different or to explore something different — to discover something different,” Springfield said.

Insight Polk examines community conditions and solutions in six target areas from UCIndicators.org: economic & employment opportunity, education, housing, food security, transportation & infrastructure, and quality of life.

LkldNow’s Insight Polk independent reporting is made possible by the United Community Indicators Project with funding by GiveWell Community Foundation & United Way of Central Florida. All editorial decisions are made by LkldNow.

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Anna Toms was born and raised in Kansas City, Mo., where she cultivated a love for writing and eventually earned her Ph.D. in literature and the humanities. She is an experienced educator who has taught students from middle school to college to think critically and express themselves clearly. Anna moved to Lakeland in June of 2020.

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