Every student at Wheeling High School takes a full academic courseload. Many of the graduates of this 2,000-student school in Wheeling, Illinois, however, also emerge with significant experience in a career field. Those interested in health careers, for example, can work with student-athletes in the school's athletic training facility, earn a Certified Nursing Assistant credential, and intern at a nursing-care facility. They have the option of taking electives in Advanced Placement Psychology or sports medicine. The Wheeling model represents one of the options that Illinois and a number of other states are taking steps to replicate. Drawing in part on the practices of other countries, states want such pathways to make high school more relevant; inform students of the options that await after they remove their caps and gowns; and, most importantly, engage youths in challenging courses that do not close the door to higher education.