There is no doubt that the roads we travel to opportunity are not always straight. There are curves, missed turns, hills, and obstacles in the way. For Jasmine Parks the road included a detour to WMCAT. Jasmine, a 2017 graduate of our pharmacy technician program who recently started her career at Spectrum Health, shared her journey at WMCAT’s Adult Graduation ceremony in June.

“My decision to become a Pharmacy Technician was influenced by my uncle, Eugene Butler, who is a retired Pharmacist. When I was younger, I would spend summers helping at the pharmacy he owned. He was the first to show me how to be a community leader and caregiver. So naturally, I went on to college to get a degree in the healthcare field.

When I got to college, I was hit with a wall of doubt and discouragement from staff, professors, and my fellow students. They told us that in order to succeed, we needed to gain experience in our field, yet we were not given the proper tools to go out and gain that experience. After several failed attempts to gain that experience, I was hit with more classes being added to my degree, only to run out of funding before I could finish. I soon returned home without a degree to show for all the hard work I put into my classes.

I knew from that moment on I had to go the nontraditional route in order to gain the knowledge and experience I needed to succeed in the healthcare field. That is when I found WMCAT. This program has changed my life in a way that I could have never imagined. I now know for a fact I can bring forth a change in my career as well as my community. I could one day be a leader in the field of my choosing and that there are no limits to what I can accomplish as long as I continue to put forth effort toward a positive change in my surroundings.

WMCAT has discovered the secret to developing successful professionals who will go and create solutions to problems in our community and in the workplace. The secret is to invest time in people, meet them where they are, and give them the tools and encouragement to go out be a pillar in the community.”

Congratulations to Jasmine and the entire WMCAT Class of 2017. You got this! Learn more about our Adult Career Training Program and how to enroll.