LYNNWOOD—A dozen representatives from various industry sectors took part in Snohomish County STEM’s ECHO (Exploring Careers in Healthcare Opportunities) Tour on Tuesday, December 16, at Edmonds College’s Hazel Miller Hall.
ECHO Tour is a hands-on career exploration event that connects high school students across Snohomish County with real healthcare professionals, tools, and pathways. Through interactive, multidisciplinary stations, students discover clinical and non‑clinical roles, learn about training and education options, and see how they can build rewarding, purpose-driven careers in healthcare.
Approximately 120 students, from four different Edmonds School District high school (Edmonds Woodway High School, Lynnwood High School, Mountlake Terrace High School, and Meadowdale High School), attended Tuesday, rotating through nine stations including: Optum, IRG Physical and Hand Therapy, Edmonds College Nursing, Edmonds College Pharmacy, Dental Careers, Hospice Care, NWESD School Nurse Corps, Sport Psychology, and the Washington Poison Center.
At each of these stations, students heard presentations from working healthcare professionals, engaged in hands-on activities from learning how to use a stethoscope, check pulses and breathing, how to navigate a dentist’s oral mirror to clean teeth from behind, the importance of hand washing, and learning how to administer basic CPR, among other things.
The goal of the ECHO tour, according to Snohomish County STEM Network Director Alyssa Jackson, is not to push students into one, single, career but to expand “awareness and possibility.”
The VIPs attending this tour Tuesday represented include the Boeing Company, Snohomish County Executive’s Office, Economic Alliance Snohomish County, Edmonds College, Edmonds School District Superintendent Rebecca Miner, Edmonds School District Board Member Carin Chase, Edmonds School District Career and technical Education (CTE) Director Mark Madison, SEIU Healthcare Training Fund, University of Washington Bothell, Lynnwood Chamber, and YMCA Snohomish County.
“It really is a pleasure to see this,” said EDS CTE Director Madison. “We are all about making those connections with our community and addressing the workforce needs. Many of the things we do is helping students discover what’s out there, to discover paths that they don’t even know they’re interested in. Most students probably only know careers their family members do. So for us it’s really important to get students out of the classroom, interact with professionals, and really discover their paths.”
For those who don’t know what CTE is, Madison explained that it’s basically “what vocational education used to be and should be,” or in other words “vocational ed on steroids.”
The ECHO tour was first piloted in May of 2024, using American Rescue Plan Act dollars awarded to Snohomish STEM to address an urgent need for a strong, diverse, pipeline for Snohomish County’s healthcare workforce.
The pilot program was originally tested at Edmonds College and Everett Community College. A year later, in 2025, the ECHO tour expanded to a three-day tour at Everett Community College where 273 students participated from 19 different schools, hearing from 27 healthcare organizations.
After that tour, a student survey showed that 97% of participating students left with more interest in pursuing healthcare careers.
This year’s ECHO tour was a single day located at Edmonds College to focus on South County, but Snohomish County STEM plans to host a two-day ECHO tour in Everett up in March, 2026, to focus on North County.
“This approach helps to improve logistics, reduces presenter fatigue and allows us to reach more students with more meaningful, career connected, experiences,” said Snohomish County STEM Network Director Alyssa Jackson.
Snohomish STEM is currently partnering with education, industry, and community leaders to grow the program locally, in addition to collaborating with other STEM Networks to bring ECHO tour to more regions across Washington State.
According to Snohomish County STEM Network Director Jackson, healthcare is one of the largest and fastest growing employment sectors in Snohomish County and it continues to face workforce shortages across a wide range of roles, from clinical and technical positions to behavioral health, patient support, and pharmacy.
“Healthcare careers also offer multiple entry points and opportunities at many education levels and long-term stability,” said Jackson. “Today’s students are tomorrow’s workforce and early career exploration really matters.”
Author: Kienan Briscoe
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