Spotlight – Jesse Hamilton
Southwest Tech’s Medical Laboratory Technician (MLT) program has 100 percent job placement since the first class graduated in 2012. “This is something we take a tremendous amount of pride in maintaining by helping our students develop the laboratory skills area employers need,” said Joan Young, MLT program director. “We have worked hard to achieve a program that gives students a career that is not only rewarding, but also is a stepping stone leading to the four-year medical lab science path.”
There are currently five alumni who are earning their bachelor’s degree while working in the Southwest Tech district. “It is a great way to get a four-year degree without incurring a huge amount of debt,” said Young.
Jesse Hamilton completed his HSED at Southwest Tech in spring 2017 and with some encouragement he decided to further his education. Hamilton recently completed his first year in the MLT program. He has two years remaining. “I didn’t have plans to go to college because my high school and middle school life was more along the lines of, ‘I don’t like school, I never want to go to school, I want to do this and be done,’ but after spending some time in the HSED with Brek Schneider (basic education case manager/instructor) and Krisy Wiest (basic education instructor) they helped reorient me and helped me figure out that school and education is important.”
How has your experience been thus far in the MLT program?
It has been interesting because all throughout high school and middle school I was kind of bored, nothing really interested me. Now, getting into some of these college-level classes like anatomy and physiology and sociology there is stuff that actually interests me. Sociology, I actually like studying. Anatomy is my best class, even though it is my hardest one.
Tell me about your first year in the program.
The first semester was mostly hands-on with basic lab skills and phlebotomy. Phlebotomy is basically drawing blood and basic lab is what we had to do to understand most of the stuff lab-related, such as microscopes, centrifuges, stuff like that. This second semester has been mostly in the book.
Where did the interest in the MLT program come from?
Helping people, doing anything science related, working hard to figure out complex problems like, ‘here’s a blood sample, what’s wrong with this guy,’ and you have to really look in depth and figure out what’s out of place. It sounds simple, but it’s actually really complicated.
Looking back, what advice would you have for high school students who are in your similar position, who may not be interested in school and just want to get out?
Give it a shot. If you don’t want to do it, you don’t want to do it, but you don’t know until you try.