Volume 38 Number 3 | June 2024
Candice S. Grayson, MS, MA, MLS(ASCP)CM, ASCLS Clinical Laboratory Educators Forum Chair
I feel like there needs to be a disclaimer here: The writer of this article is not a writer, but can play one on TV. However, here I am writing anyway, and why? Because I tried it. Ahh, but why did I try it? Maybe that is the question. Even if I did write this with my feet dragging, or being pushed!
“Where do you see yourself in five years?” For most of us, we have been asked this question or answered it in an interview. Each time, I answered it differently, but with the concept of being with the facility in some format that I was interviewing with. However, I am very glad I was never held to whatever I said.
When we start any type of professional or educational path, we identify with a goal. I am going to get this degree and work at X institution. However, we make it seem as if the journey is a straight line. I did the same thing. I knew I wanted to be a medical laboratory scientist, so I chose a school and thought I would work in a lab. Simple and straightforward. Yet maybe our path isn’t always perfectly laid out, and maybe there are opportunities we could be missing if we don’t try another path. We might have temptations or stumbles along the path, and we might have someone else “prompting” us to explore other avenues. Maybe others see something in you, that you don’t realize. I say this and share my personal experiences so that when you look to the future, make sure you take opportunities to change the future and be an active part in building the future.
“At graduation, I always remind the recent grads to never let this degree be an end, but rather a beginning. Choose to continue to learn, shape your professional goals, and engage in your future.”
The theme of this issue of ASCLS Today is looking to the future. When we look forward, we need to be reminded of the past. So, how did I get here?
I have heard many stories of how one found the medical laboratory profession, but I knew about the field since I was in elementary/middle school, thanks to an aunt who is a histotechnologist. What I didn’t know or consider for myself was the education aspect or the active role in the profession that I would have. I always pictured myself working in the lab and coming home to cats. However, I started being a preceptor for colleges within the lab that I worked at. This isn’t something I would have expected of myself, but I realized that I enjoyed the one-on-one interaction—sharing what I learned in school along with my new bench knowledge with the next classes/students. This opportunity to work with the local colleges led the path to a teaching opportunity. Yes, it was just teaching the laboratory part of a medical laboratory science course, but I was teaching others in a class. It was a step in a direction that I never would have expected.
After wrapping my head around the fact that most of the students in the class weren’t that far off from my own age, but were looking to me for instruction, I found that it built my own confidence in the field. I learned a lot about interpersonal skills and realized that this was a first push for me on another path. With encouragement, I started taking master’s degree classes in education. I felt comfortable talking about the laboratory tests and cellular identification, but building an objective and an assessment … where do you start? This push would then start a cycle of pushes. Again, thinking of “where do you see yourself in five years,” that response seemed to evolve faster than I could come up with an answer.
Soon after graduating with a masters, I put it right to use and started a medical laboratory technician program. Enter more paths! This opened opportunities with various professional organizations, both within the state and nationally. (Like writing now for ASCLS.) One of the first things I did as a new program director was attend a Clinical Laboratory Educators Conference (CLEC). I found others who had chosen to try different paths and they had become, for lack of a better phrase, a support group to each other. After attending this support group as a quiet observer, someone suggested participating. I have done that, and yet, I still find new things to learn, explore, and new paths that I can take. I appreciate that voice pushing just as much as I appreciated the voice of encouragement to enter education.
As we just enjoyed another successful CLEC, I found myself realizing that I may have an “old-timer” voice and use that now to encourage others to share their knowledge. I encourage everyone to consider pushing others and yourself to different paths, one you might not have considered. One that never would have been a thought when asked, “Where do you see yourself in five years?” At graduation, I always remind the recent grads to never let this degree be an end, but rather a beginning. Choose to continue to learn, shape your professional goals, and engage in your future. It doesn’t have to be another degree or spearheading an organization, just a step into a new area or skill that uses your abilities and pushes you to learn something new and try another path. We all have a wealth of knowledge and experience, and each of us has something to share, whether we are new or seasoned. There is some role you can play in this profession that you may not have realized, if you just try.
Candice S. Grayson is Program Director/Professor of Histotechnology & Medical Laboratory Technology at the Community College of Baltimore County in Baltimore, Maryland.