Director of Medical Assisting Sarah Kuzera (above, far left) stood in her classroom and held up a medical mannequin torso affectionately named “Roberta.” Sixteen middle- and high-school students watched Kuzera demonstrate how to remove surgical stitches and staples. Then it was their turn.

These students were among about 100 students who attended career pathways camps at Clark College during the week of June 25-28. Clark College hosted Health Care Pathway Camp and STEM Pathway Camp for middle- and high school students to consider careers in health care and STEM fields. Both camps were funded by Guided Pathways, Clark College Foundation, and Career Connect Washington. This was the second year these camps were offered to systemically non-dominant students¹. Breakfast, lunch, snacks, and drinks were provided, along with a Clark T-shirt.

“Guided Pathways is thrilled to support both the healthcare and STEM camps again this year,” said Rhianna Johnson, director of Guided Pathways and Partnerships. “Sparking interest in young minds is critical for helping students believe that college is a viable path for them. Providing exploratory opportunities to gain hands-on experience in these careers and learning pathways is a hallmark of equitable access, a foundational component of the Guided Pathways model.”

In each classroom and laboratory, students were provided instruction from Clark faculty and were offered opportunities to learn hands-on skills used in those careers. 

Health Care Pathway Camp

The Health Care Pathway Camp was attended by about 70 enthusiastic students who spent one day in Clark’s Allied Health building at Washington State University Vancouver. Students were introduced to a variety of potential careers, including dental hygiene, emergency medical technician, health information management, medical assisting, nursing, pharmacy technician, and phlebotomy technician.

• In the medical assisting classroom, students practiced removing surgical stitches and staples, used a cuff to check blood pressure, performed vision and hearing tests, and wrapped arms with casting material.
• Students in the pharmacy technician classroom practiced counting pill blanks, making hand sanitizer in a simulated compounding pharmacy, and performing syringe draws in a protective hood.
• In the phlebotomy technician classroom, students used syringes to practice injections into artificial venipuncture and injection arms and more.
• In the nursing simulation laboratory, students performed CPR compressions on lifelike interactive patient simulators, practiced treating a deep wound, and more.

In every classroom and laboratory, students were engaged and asked questions as they learned about potential health care careers.

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Pathway Camp

The STEM Pathway Camp partnered with Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) to introduce systemically non-dominant students¹ to biology, engineering, chemistry, rocketry, surveying and geomatics, and more. During the free, two-day camp, 30 attendees participated in six activities. Campers also received breakfast and lunch.

Engineering Professor Carol Hsu mentioned that she noticed students were already making connections with each other and exchanging contact information during lunch on the first day of camp.

Activities included:

• Dissecting a lamprey eel.
• Creating plastics from corn and milk to compare the strength, durability, and biodegradability of them.
• Using rocket kits to build their own tiny model rockets. They will have to wait to launch them at an approved park.
• 3D printing. Students created tiny, plastic objects ranging from spiders to penguins.
• A compass scavenger hunt plus a contest to see who could guess the length of 100 feet.
• Touring Clark College campus.

Students were treated to a panel discussion by current Clark MESA students, who talked about their educational journeys, career pathways, and how the staff and faculty helped to demystify college and STEM fields specifically.

Johnson said, “Guided Pathways funding supports opportunities like the Health Care Pathways Camp and STEM Camp to ensure that potential students have access to information and experiences that will help them make positive career choices and challenge stereotypes about who can benefit from jobs in the healthcare and STEM fields.”

Photos: Clark College/Susan Parrish and Carly Rae Zent

Clark College hosted its first-ever Healthcare Pathways Camp for more than 70 local middle and high school students on June 21-23. There was no cost for any students to participate in the camp. Funding for the camp was provided by Guided Pathways, Clark College Foundation, and Career Connect Washington. Breakfast, lunch, snacks, and drinks were provided, along with a Clark T-shirt.

Classes and activities took place on Clark’s main campus and in the Clark College Building at Washington State University Vancouver which houses the majority of Clark’s healthcare programs. Students participated in hands-on healthcare and teambuilding activities with Clark professors and staff, current students, and recent graduates. Each group of campers was teamed up with a Clark student ambassador who is successfully pursuing a degree and could offer advice about becoming a college student.

Learning by doing

Each student camper had the opportunity to experience all of Clark’s healthcare programs:

• Dental Hygiene
• Emergency Medical Technician (EMT)
• Health Information Management and Medical Billing and Coding
• Medical Assisting
• Nursing
• Pharmacy Technician
• Phlebotomy Tech

“We’re really getting an opportunity to showcase all of Clark’s healthcare programs by providing hands-on experiences with our professors,” said Professor Olga Lyubar, lead organizer of the camp. She is the department head for Clark’s Health Information Management program. “It’s about opening up their minds to consider their future path. Many of these students are just starting to think about what they want to do in their careers.”

Just a week after Ellie Wetzel, above second from right, graduated from Clark’s two-year pharmacy technician program, she stood in the pharmacy tech lab and taught a group of middle and high school students how to count pill blanks. As they worked, students asked her questions.

A student looked up from counting and asked, “When you go to a pharmacy, which person helps people at the counter?”

Ellie answered, “The person at the pharmacy counter is the pharmacy technician, like me. We count the pills and help customers. Then the pharmacist checks our work before we dispense them.”

That led to a discussion about Clark’s pharmacy tech program and career opportunities in the field.

All around the lab, students completed other tasks including drawing up immunizations and compounding a suspension.

Professor Heidi Fay, above right, lead instructor of the Pharmacy Technician program, led the students in compounding a simulated ointment made from unsweetened cocoa powder and petroleum jelly. The students used spatulas with long blades to mix the two ingredients and smooth them into the ointment. The smell of chocolate wafted over the counter where students worked.

A student who was compounding the ointment commented,” Smells like chocolate. Can I taste it?”

Professor Fay replied, “No. It’s unsweetened cocoa and Vaseline. It will not taste good.” The student accepted her answer and kept working.

“I was thrilled to be able to offer so many students the opportunity to see what different pharmacy technician tasks look like,” said Professor Fay. “We often think of pharmacy technicians as only ‘counting pills,’ but pharmacy technicians can complete a wide variety of tasks and work in so many different pharmacy settings. I felt great leaving the camp knowing students were able to learn more about this important healthcare career.”

Down the hall in the phlebotomy lab, Professor Lori Anderson sat next to a student and guided him in inserting a needle into a vein on a simulated arm. Throughout the process, she offered instruction and encouragement.

As the class ended and students prepared to leave, Professor Anderson asked, “Thank you for joining us. So, what do you think about phlebotomy? Is it something you might want to do? I hope it will help you determine your career path. Working in phlebotomy is a great stepping stone to other healthcare careers and a great way to support yourself while you’re going to school.”

In the medical assisting lab, some students were working on applying temporary casts while others removed surgical staples from an artificial arm and practiced taking vital signs.

Professor Sarah Kuzera, above right, observed a student applying temporary casting material around another student’s forearm. Then Professor Kuzera asked the “patient” to straighten out her fingers. She pointed out the importance of leaving the fingers free to not hinder blood circulation and to allow the patient to have use of their fingers.

As Professor Kuzera watched a student holding temporary casting material under a faucet, she advised, “That’s way too wet! Squeeze out the water and it will work better.”

She explained that graduates of Clark’s medical assisting program have an impressive job placement rate. She credits this to the program’s thorough hands-on training, including a required 160-hour clinical externship.

In the Nursing simulation lab, groups of students gathered around Siman, an interactive, programmable patient to learn about when and how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR. Another group of students gathered around beds and performed wound care on other simulated patients.

Nursing Professor Bo Li observed, “Some students are really curious. They want to know all the details about the pathway to becoming a nurse.”

On the final day of camp, panelists from the community who currently are working in healthcare fields offered at Clark College talked about their education, why they chose their field, and what a typical work day looks like.

Then students attended workshops focused on how to apply to college, career choices, financial aid, and how to succeed in college.

Clark College plans to host Healthcare Pathways Camp again next year.

The healthcare industry continues to be a top employer in SW Washington in terms of number of jobs and growth potential,” said Rhianna Johnson, director of Guided Pathways and Partnerships. “At the heart of Guided Pathways is the goal of helping students successfully navigate the journey that leads to high-wage, in-demand careers that will support economic mobility and long-term job security.

 Guided Pathways funding supports opportunities like the Healthcare Pathways Camp to ensure that all potential students have access to information and experiences that will help them make positive career choices and challenge stereotypes about who can benefit from jobs in the healthcare field.”

Photos: Clark College/Susan Parrish

Tammy Thomas fulfilled her decades-long dream of becoming a nurse when her mother walked across the stage and attached a Clark College Nursing pin to her daughter’s lapel. Tammy was one of 29 nursing graduates celebrating completing their Registered Nurse education at Clark’s Nursing pinning ceremony on June 16 in Gaiser Student Center.  

The room was packed with families and friends—and so many babies, toddlers and young children—who had supported and cheered on their hard-working nursing students through the rigors of Clark’s program.  

During the ceremony, Ethan Cockerham received the Florence Nightingale Award, which is bestowed upon a graduate who has shown exceptional clinical performance. He spoke about how Clark’s nursing program is well respected throughout the region. When he first moved to the metro area to eventually attend nursing school, he was working as an emergency medical technician (EMT). At every hospital he walked into, he asked the staff which was the area’s best nursing program. Overwhelmingly, the answer was the same: Clark College.  

Ethan told his fellow nursing graduates: “We started at the height of COVID when it was chaotic and complicated with nursing strikes and vaccine refusals.” He added, “We’ve arrived! We have so much good to do in this world.” 

Angie Bailey, Nursing faculty department chair, explained that the Nursing graduates already have applied for licensure in the state they want to work in. They have one final step to take to earn an “RN” after their name. They must pass a rigorous exam, the National Council Licensure Examination, or NCLEX-RN. It is a nationwide examination for the licensing of nurses in the U.S., Canada, and Australia. 

Standing in the back of the room, she nodded toward the stage where the 29 new nurses sat and said, “Our students are phenomenal.”  

In turn, each graduate stood and was pinned by someone who was important in their journey to become a nurse.  

• Emilio Gomez was pinned by his wife, an ER nurse, with the help of their two children. 
• Janey Hume was pinned by her sister, Esther, a former graduate of Clark’s RN program. 
• Miriah Mallory was pinned by her husband, who held their baby. She had become pregnant and given birth while completing the nursing program. 
• Tammy Thomas was pinned by her mother, a nurse and nursing professor. 

Tammy’s nursing story 

Tammy always wanted to be a nurse because her mother, Linda Rose, was a nurse. After graduating from high school, Tammy enrolled in a nursing program at a community college in California, but life got in the way. With only two classes to go, she became pregnant. After her daughter was born, Tammy finished her general associate degree in 2000, but she had to put nursing school on hold to raise her daughter.  

Tammy said, “I worked as a human resources manager for 16 years while I was raising my daughter, but I was always thinking about nursing.” 

Tammy watched her mother’s fulfilling nursing career, which included working at Oregon Health Sciences University and then becoming a nursing professor at Concordia University. 

Meanwhile, Tammy’s daughter, Daryl Hogan, grew up, went to nursing school and is an oncology nurse. She is earning a master’s degree so that she can become a nursing professor just like her grandmother. 

Now inspired by both her mother and her daughter, Tammy decided to return to college to fulfill her lifelong dream of becoming a nurse.  

She said, “I chose Clark because it has one of the best and most prestigious nursing programs around.”  

At age 52, Tammy graduated with an AA in Nursing DTA/MRP, and next will take her exam to become a Registered Nurse. Tammy is not planning on stopping there. She plans to earn her bachelor’s degree and to work in neonatal intensive care (NICU) or women’s health.  

In earning her nursing degree, Tammy joins her mother and daughter and completes their three-generation nursing family. 

“It’s been quite the journey,” Tammy said. “I have learned that I have the perseverance and courage to follow my dream,” Tammy said. “My advice to students: Don’t give up on your dreams. Believe in yourself. It doesn’t matter how old you are. Just set a goal to do what you love, believe in yourself, and take that first step. Then the next.”  

Then all 29 nurses stood and recited the Nightingale Pledge, pledging to uphold certain ethics and standards within their profession. It is a modified version of the Hippocratic Oath for doctors.  

Many of these nursing graduates have transferred to Washington State University Vancouver and will begin working toward their bachelor’s degrees in the fall. There is a seamless transition between the two schools and their nursing programs. 

History of Nursing at Clark

• First pinning ceremony: 1962 
• Number of total nursing graduates: 4,351 
• Number of nursing classes graduating: 144 

Nursing Pledge 

In full knowledge and understanding, I promise to care for the sick with all of the skill and understanding I possess, without regards to race, creed, color, politics, or social status, sparing no effort to preserve quality of life, alleviate suffering, and promote health. I will respect at all times the dignity and beliefs of the patients under my care, holding in confidence all personal information entrusted to me, and refraining from any action which may endanger life or health. I will endeavor to keep my professional knowledge and skills at the highest level and give loyal support and cooperation to all members of the health care team. I will do my utmost to honor the international code of ethics applied to nursing and uphold the integrity of the nurse.  

Photos: Clark College/Susan Parrish