The 74 | Each day, hundreds of rural south Texas high schoolers wake before sunrise to board vans that bump for miles over back roads, crossing ranch land and thickets of brush. Their destinations aren’t their local schools, but distant districts where specialized academies offer them training in nursing, teaching and welding, along with associate degrees.

CBS New | From 2010 to 2020, the population of rural America declined, marking the first decade-long loss in history, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That's presented a problem for rural schools with limited resources. 

Texas Monthly | The high school students begin the day by drawing one another’s blood, tying tourniquets and tapping veins before inserting needles. Afterward, they gather around a synthetic cadaver for an exploratory disemboweling. Airiana Guerrero, a senior, fishes out a faux kidney and gives it a little squeeze. “Feels like a chicken breast,” she says.

The 74 | The 74 and the Progressive Policy Institute host a special conversation about how rural collaboratives can transform life trajectories for rural high school students and create sustainable economic development for their communities.