Serving on the high school’s board of trustees is Gary Willyerd, associate dean for the College of Osteopathic Medicine’s campus in Detroit.

“It’s going to have a focus on higher math and the sciences almost at a college prep curriculum that will prepare students to go into a college program,” he said. “I’m hopeful that we’ll develop some credit sources at Michigan State University so that the students will have the chance to take some college courses as they prepare.”

Willyerd said the high school will contribute toward sustaining Michigan’s health care industry in the future.

“We’re facing a physician shortage and our hope is … that we encourage students to go into medicine and, ultimately, that they attend MSU and the (College of Osteopathic Medicine),” he said. “Over 80 percent of our students stay in the state and practice in the state and that’s what we’re looking for.”

Brenda Belcher, who will serve as the school’s principal, said attending a school structured around a specific interest will encourage students to further pursue education.

“Students will get to connect their learning to the real world,” she said. “Whenever you can make a connection between the curriculum and the real world, you get more students going on to college and completing college.”

Belcher added, opportunities such as mentoring, interning and getting to work on authentic projects with the medical students will allow the school’s relationship with the College of Osteopathic Medicine to continue to grow.

Jawad Ul-Hassan, a graduate student in the College of Osteopathic Medicine, supports the idea of a special interest high school.

“I think the early exposure will help them understand what career they’re interested in,” he said. “High school isn’t the place where you solidify what you want to be in the future, but if you have that exposure it helps you put focus on what career you want to pursue.”