The Learning Pad Newsletter

We are very proud of Renisha McKiney who graduated our Phlebotomy Technician Program, and shortly thereafter received employment from LabCorp.

Way to go Renisha, and good luck with your future!

Hear her Testimonial HERE.

We are so proud of everything that Tiffany Estrada has accomplished. She was sponsored by a grant and she took full opportunity of what was provided to her. There were a few times she questioned herself and if she could or would complete the program, but she listened and took to heart the advice her counselors and instructors provided, and she completed and PASSED her National Certification Exam.

She is now certified as a Clinical Medical Assistant, as a Certified Phlebotomy Technician, Certified as a Electrocardiogram Technician, and she has earned her Clinical CPR, AED Certifications.

Keep up the GREAT work Tiffany and you will go far!

Tiffany Estrada and her Instructor Mr. Metcalfe

See what Tiffany had to say about her experience on our TESTIMONIAL page.

What can we say about Jeri Morris that most everyone does not already know…..She is a hard worker and a pleasure to know.

She came to The Learning Pad with a healthcare background, she was a EMT.

She quickly acclimated to the class and was putting out some of the highest grade point averages the school has seen. Soon she was assisting other students within the class in their learning as well. She is a born leader and will go far in this field.

She received an externship rather quickly after her classroom studies were completed, and shortly thereafter found employment and then passed her National Medical Assistant Certification exam.

Way go to Jeri, we are very proud of all the hard work you put into your studies! Check out Jeri’s testimonial HERE.

We are very proud of Paula Lavizzo and all that she has accomplished. Before she started with the Medical Assistant program here at The Learning Pad, she worked many years in manufacturing. As with most, the manufacturing industry had a downturn and she needed to find another career. She always wanted to learn and work in the healthcare area, but she had to be a provider for her family. Now the kids were out of the house, she could focus on her own education and advancement.

Paula was sponsored by the rural Workforce Center and her counselor was Jamie Jenkins.

Paula quickly excelled in class and with all her hands-on clinical activities. Soon she was showing the newer ones in class how to perform venipunctures and EKG’s.

Paula soon found an externship with Specially for Children . She was a little worried if she would secure it as she needed a part time externship since she had to get a job. They were able to work with her and provide her part time hours. And as with other students of The Learning Pad, they were impressed enough with her abilities, that they extended employment to her. And she is not fully done with her externship yet!

How awesome for Paula! She now has a career path and a career taking care of children. We as well as her counselor Jamie Jenkins of the Workforce Center in Round Rock, are proud of Paula’s accomplishment. We will miss seeing her warm and caring smile everyday.

Marlene use to work in manufacturing, but due to the layoffs needed to get into a different industry. She was sponsored by the Workforce Solutions in Round Rock, TX. It seems like yesterday was her 1st day of class.

Marlene worked hard and was an example in the classroom for the other students in a very short amount of time. Her GPA was pushing 100, and she was a natural when she was performing her clinical activities.

Marlene was nervous and sometimes doubted her abilities. But her strong will to succeed won out, and she soon secured her OWN externship at Solid Oak Internal Medicine.

The Doctors and staff at Solid Oak Internal Medicine was so impressed with her knowledge and skill she acquired at The Learning Pad, that after her externship was up, they extended to her full time employment, and she started on, Aug. 8, 2011.

The staff and her instructors at The Learning Pad, as well as her counselor, Jamie Payne at The Workforce, are very proud of her and her accomplishments.

Keep up the great work and we wish you the best, and will miss seeing you everyday!

It was very apparent we had many “shutter bugs” in our Phlebotomy class in July. Below you can see how hard they worked “hand on” in their final grade by performing a blood draw on a volunteer of theirs.

It can be a little nervous performing a venipuncture in front of the rest of the class, but everyone supported everyone and all did just fine. And PASSED!!

Way to go everyone!!

In June our two instructors, John Maya & Amber Barba, was able to share in the responsibilities in training our phlebotomy students. We had a great group of students that buckled down and studied hard. All has graduated and we are looking forward to them coming back on certification exam day and sitting [AND PASSING] their national phlebotomy certification exam!

Way to go team!!

What a great group of students who participated in the May Phlebotomy Technician Program. We had a wide variety of backgrounds within the class. Some students were nursing students wanting to quickly work within the health field while they were going to school.

Others had backgrounds in other service industries such as the food industry and retail, and were taking this class to expand their resume and employment opportunities.

A few in this class after graduation went on to volunteer at the Central Texas Blood and Tissue Center to expand their resume for employment. And other were able to get on at some of the various laboratories in town such as CPL.

We wish everyone good luck in their endeavors!

Graduation date: April 15th, 2011

Each student worked very hard in studying and learning via hands on labs and classroom work. Each one was able to build from scratch a Personal Computer. They were able to install new operating systems, and they were able to run diagnostics. Alot of fun was also had in being able to perform these tasks in our computer build laboratory. After that they learned how to network these computers together and administrate that network.

Their instructor Mr. Coffey, as well as the rest of our staff wish them well in their Technology endeavors.

Trihn Ly recently graduated our Medical Assistant Program, and was sponsored by the TAA program with the Rural Workforce. We, as well as her TAA counselor Elva Jaqez, are very proud of all her accomplishments. Ms. Ly graduated with a near perfect attendance and one of the highest GPA’s in our schools history.

Ms. Ly was even successful in securing her own externship at the end of her classroom work by walking into the offices of the Northwest Diagnostic Clinic and offering her resume.

Northwest Diagnostic Clinic took her on for her externship. They were so impressed with her ethics and knowledge, that at first they were not looking to hire anyone, but did not want to let her go. They were able to find the funds to extend an offer of full time employment with them to Ms. Ly and she accepted. Her last day of externship was completed two weeks ago, and her first day on the job as an employee started June 20th.

We wish Ms. Trihn Ly much success in her new career!