Torrance Adult School instructor goes above and beyond to ensure her students find employment as healthcare workers
Yowanda Salter is the research teacher for healthcare occupations at Torrance Adult School and has spearheaded the medical billing and medical assistant programs at the school for more than a decade. She collaborates with her teaching partner in the medical classes, Leticia Wang, and together they help train up the next generation of healthcare workers in the area.
“I like teaching because when I see the students understand the coursework and progress it is a good feeling,” Salter says. “There are so many jobs out there for the students we work with, and it’s kind of like the mother in me and Ms. Wang to keep pushing our students to do well and get them into good paying careers.”
Class sizes vary from year to year, but on average 15-20 students take advantage of each session of the three medical CTE programs TAS currently offers—pharmacy technician, medical billing and coding and medical assistant.
“Our partners rave about our student’s abilities and quality of training. So we have a good relationship with the community.”
Yowanda Salter, Torrance Adult School Resource Teacher for Healthcare Occupations
TAS students who enter the medical CTE programs can expect to participate in traditional classroom learning as well as labs where they receive hands-on training. The final part of their training is to participate in an externship.
During their externships, students go to real-world worksites to gain practical experience. Externs may shadow professionals, attend meetings, and learn about day-to-day operations in their future careers. It’s an opportunity to explore interests and gain insight, and can help them make informed career decisions. Depending on the program, students must serve between 120 and 160 hours for their externship.
Salter says these externships often lead to job offers from the facilities and businesses that partner with TAS to provide such opportunities, which include the Urgent Care Center of South Bay, several local doctor’s offices and medical facilities, and national pharmacies like Walgreens and CVS. Whether or not externships lead directly to jobs, TAS is dedicated to assisting its students and CTE program graduates with employment.
“We offer a job fair every spring where Torrance Memorial participates and we have had students that were hired on the spot from that job fair,” Salter says. “I think it is a pretty good opportunity for all of our students because we have physicians all the way from Redondo Beach who want to be able to recruit our students. A lot of doctors in Torrance and pharmacies are aware of the type of students that we are producing to go into the workforce and they spread the love and recommend us to other employers in the region.
“Our partners rave about our student’s abilities and quality of training. So we have a good relationship with the community.”
For more information on how Torrance Adult School can help you achieve your goals, visit www.tusd.org/tas or call 310-533-4689.
Written by Whip Villarreal
| Regions | Classes |
|---|---|
| South Coast California | Careers in Health Care |
