High paying jobs are available in the Rio Grande Valley, but not everyone is able to get them.

A new program is working to give high school grads those opportunities.

"You can get the certificate, you can get the training, but real life experience nothing compares to that," South Texas Health System Edinburg Chief Operating Officer Kennetha Foster said.

Foster has seen the demand first hand.

"With a greater population, there becomes a greater need for healthcare," Foster said.

Foster oversees 350 employees and the hospital network continues to grow. She says the company usually has to hire people outside the Valley.

South Texas Health System sees over 300 patients a month at all of their emergency rooms, and they need staff to help those patients.

"We're doing great things here in the Valley, but we're doing it in isolation," Region One Director of Innovative School Models Bobbie Sue Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez is working to bridge the gap between high school grads needing a high paying job and companies looking to hire them.

"Because we really want to ensure that our young people are placed with high waged jobs so that they're able to provide for their family and change what their generations look like after them," Gonzalez said.

After two years of planning, Gonzalez and her team found the highest paying jobs needing people to fill in vacancies are in. They include education, government, healthcare and IT.

Starting next month, leaders in those industries are set to meet with local public schools to create a curriculum that gets students out of the classroom and experiencing the real world in those fields.

Learning soft skills, like communication with patients, things Foster says you don't always get from a book.

Watch the video above for the full story.