Education is a valuable tool for both current and future caregivers. Monument Health is proud to sponsor scholars each year through the Build Dakota Scholarship Fund. Started in 2015, Build Dakota is a program providing free education for qualifying students seeking skills education at South Dakota technical colleges.
In 2024, Monument Health sponsored 85 recipients of the Build Dakota Scholarship Fund. This fall, 66 of those students will start their journey towards a career in health care at Western Dakota Tech in Rapid City. On June 27, Western Dakota Tech hosted an athletic scholarship-style signing day for the next cohort. These students will be seeking degrees in the disciplines of Registered Nursing, Licensed Practical Nursing, Surgical Technology & Medical Lab Sciences.
In 2023 Monument Health awarded 47 students with the same honor. Joanna Wiseman, talent acquisition and marketing specialist at Monument Health says that Monument Health pays for half of the schooling and the state of South Dakota picks the rest of the tab. According to the Build Dakota website, graduates of South Dakota’s technical college have a 98-100% placement rate.
Monument Health is dedicated to growing a workforce to care for our patients, and assist our physicians, nurses and to recruit caregivers to fill critical roles within our clinics and hospitals. Monument Health is proud to sponsor students at four technical colleges through Build Dakota: Western Dakota Tech in Rapid City, Southeast Technical College in Sioux Falls, Mitchell Tech in Mitchell and Lake Area Technical College in Watertown.