Shay Rideaux has been able to quench her wanderlust, working in hospitals located from St. Croix, in the U.S. Virgin Islands; to Anchorage, Alaska, after graduating from the $$Memphis Campus and becoming a certified surgical technologist.
Shay first got a taste for exploring new locales when she was stationed in England while serving in the U.S. Air Force as a surgical services specialist. After leaving the military, she decided that she’d like to travel the country working as a surgical technologist, but she was told by a travel staffing agency that she needed to back up her military experience with education and certification in order to find work in the field. “It’s a rarity for [employers] to accept military training,” Shay explained. “Even though you get schooled within, people on the outside don’t qualify that. They want you to be AST [Association of Surgical Technologists] certified.”—
[img]Using her Post 9/11 G.I. Bill benefits, Shay enrolled at National College and transferred a number of her credits from another college to help expedite her program. After earning her degree and becoming certified in the field, she was offered a job by the hospital where she had completed her clinical rotations, but she chose instead to accept short term assignments working as a certified surgical technologist in hospitals throughout the country. “I had a moose that came and visited me at work [in Anchorage],” she recalled with a smile. “[I was] getting experiences that a lot of my friends never thought they would have or never even dreamed about.”
After working in travel assignments for several years, Shay recently accepted a permanent position in Memphis working at Methodist Hospital Germantown, but no matter where she’s working, Shay’s passion for the field of surgical technology never wavers. “The surgical tech is the stronghold of the operating room. If I was to do this the rest of my life until the day I die, I would be happy with that because there’s nothing else that I can see myself doing,” Shay stated. “National College changed my life by giving me the essential things that I needed to get to where I needed to be. It was the gateway to where I am today.”
A- After working in the U.S. Air Force as a surgical services specialist, Shay Rideaux used her Post 9/11 G.I Bill benefits to earn her degree and become certified as a certified surgical technologist.
B- Shay had the opportunity to see new places like St. Croix, U.S.V.I. working in hospitals throughout the country during short-term assignments through a medical travel staffing agency.
