January 6, 2017
Instead of going to a traditional four-year college to study medicine, Jamison Wallington decided to take another route.
Wallington, who graduated from American Career College-Orange County, is now the lead medical assistant instructor at ACC-Lynwood. At a recent Inspire Club meeting, Wallington said after graduating high school he knew he wanted to pursue a job in healthcare but didn't know how to proceed. After visiting an ACC campus, he decided to enroll in the vocational nursing program which eventually lead to him working as an LVN in an oncology clinic. While working, Wallington decided to go back to school for a bachelor's and eventually a masters.
At the Inspire Club meeting, he told the students that committing to a path and constantly moving forward is the key to success.
"We have each other to help get through these times and some day you'll look back and you'll be standing in front of a classroom of students and you'll be thinking back to all these memories that you have and you'll say, 'You know what? I started here, around the table at ACC-Lynwood and this is where my journey began. Let me tell you how it progresses.'"
There's always something that (students) have to overcome in order to complete the program, whether its finances or childcare or transportation or home issues or whatever it is, but the nice thing of it is I get to see students overcome it. Also, it's encouraging to have students be able to tell other students, "You can make it, you can do it, so just push forward."
A degree in healthcare does not go away. Even if I hadn't practiced nursing for a few years, I still was able to use my nursing license to come back and teach. I could go back into the field so it allows you to have that backup plan.Try it, make your best effort for it and be successful at it. Use it as a stepstool if you need to go into another profession, but it's always there for you to fall back on.
The golden rule is always a good one, where you just have an attitude of do unto others what you want done to yourself. That will take you very far. If you have an attitude of putting others above yourself, it's very beneficial for your profession.
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