Students at Trezevant High School picked the brains of Baptist Memorial Hospital-Memphis colleagues during a health care career learning session through a partnership with Leadership Memphis and Baptist Memphis on Thursday, Jan. 31.
Students spoke one-on-one with colleagues about education, job training, skills and salary ranges in health care. They were also able to see the tools colleagues use in their jobs.
The plan is to help graduating seniors find a career path that’s best for them and to inform the students about various career opportunities in health care.
“Not everyone has to be a doctor, you don’t have to think it will take you 12 or 16 years to finish school to do something in health care,” said Derick Ziegler, administrator and CEO of Baptist Memphis. “There are a lot of opportunities for a two-year associates degree or a four-year bachelor’s degree.”
Ziegler is one of 10 individuals who are a part of Leadership Trezevant, an initiative through Leadership Memphis that brings members of the community together to help students succeed.
“It’s not too early to figure out what you want to do,” Ziegler told the students. “There are many different opportunities in health care, and we want to talk to you about what we do, what it took for us in terms of education and let you know how reasonable it is to get a job after training.”
Respiratory therapists, phlebotomists, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, radiologic technologists, diagnostic medical sonographers and representatives from Baptist Health Sciences University all spoke with the teenagers about their careers.
“Trezevant is one of the eight schools we are working with through our new Success High School Initiative where our goal is to increase the post-secondary continuation rate among high school students in Memphis,” said David Williams, president and CEO of Leadership Memphis.
Teachers at Trezevant will choose 30 students who have an interest in health care to join some of the professionals at Baptist Memphis for job shadowing. The students will also visit Baptist Health Sciences University to see what the career classes are like.
“We want the students who are really serious about health care to come back for the shadowing,” said Ziegler.
Timeka Lovett, a 12-year science teacher at Trezevant, is excited about this experience for the students and is confident the time spent with Baptist Memphis colleagues will make an impact on those who want to pursue a career in health care.
Vivian White, M.T., a phlebotomist at Baptist Memphis, shows students at Trezevant High School how to draw blood on a patient. Colleagues from Baptist Memphis participated in a career day with Leadership Memphis, Thursday, Jan. 31.
Elizabeth Davis, radiologic technologist at Baptist Memphis, shows students examples of X-rays at Trezevant High School.