Dear Editor,
You can teach an old dog new tricks, I’m proof of that.
After loosing my job at Gilroy Unified School District in 2002 I
realized that I really bored with my career. After 25 years of
secretarial jobs I was totally burned out.
I was tired of creating for other people, being a gopher, and
not using the intelligence that I had.
Dear Editor,
You can teach an old dog new tricks, I’m proof of that.
After loosing my job at Gilroy Unified School District in 2002 I realized that I really bored with my career. After 25 years of secretarial jobs I was totally burned out.
I was tired of creating for other people, being a gopher, and not using the intelligence that I had.
So I went back to school. It took me a while to talk myself into returning to school, as I hadn’t been in school since 1974. I was not able to attend college because I had a baby my senior year in high school and the past 30 years or so I have taken care of my family. I kept telling myself that I was too old to go back to school. Then I realized I could do something I really like by the time I turned 50 or remain doing a job I had come to despise for the rest of my life.
I played around at Gavilan, taking general education classes, for a couple of years deciding what I wanted to be when I grew up. In September 2003 I enrolled in a technical training program to learn to become a surgical technologist. I have always loved the medical field, and this program seemed like it would suit me.
When I began it seemed like the end of my training was so far away. But here I am, having completed all my class work and my first clinical rotation. I am just waiting for my second clinical rotation assignment. I have been able to observe in the operating room and be excited by what I saw, not a hint of getting sick. I know this is where I want to be the rest of my life. Imagine a job where I can use my brain, the job is not monotonous, and I’m expected to speak up if a sterile surgical field is being compromised. I love it.
I will be graduating from college in April of 2005, I am so happy; I never dreamed I would ever be in this position. Also along with the units I have already earned at Gavilan College I only need to take two nursing classes (which are available online) to receive my AA in nursing. You can make your dreams come true with a little bit of work; you are never too old to learn.
Charlotte Noriega, Gilroy
