When Hannah Ryder was presented with the opportunity to attend PTECH, she was somewhat unsure as to what she was getting herself into. At the time, she was attending school at Broadalbin-Perth, but began researching other educational settings as she started to think about her future. B-P was not a participating school with PTECH yet, and the fact that she would be enrolled into an early college program worried her. With lots of encouragement and consideration, she took full advantage of the opportunity and decided to apply for admission.
“I could not be more grateful that I did,” said Ryder.
Ryder enrolled in the Medical/Health Science pathway. She graduated PTECH in the spring of 2019 with her associates degree in Health Studies. Post graduation she entered the workforce as an assistant to the CT Technologist at St. Mary’s Healthcare in Amsterdam. Her time working at St. Mary’s allowed her to gain valuable experience in the field and help narrow down which healthcare degree she would pursue.
After investing time at St. Mary’s she was able to confidently decide that applying to the Radiology program at SUNY FMCC was the right decision. She was accepted into the program and graduated in the spring of 2023. Soon after she successfully passed her board certification and became a licensed Radiologic Technologist. Currently, she is employed at St. Mary’s Healthcare as a Computerized Tomography (CT) Technologist.
Ryder says that because of PTECH, she gained many new skills that she may not have been exposed to in a traditional high school setting, including professionalism, team based project learning, public speaking, and collaboration.
“PTECH gave me the confidence to do hard things and helped me step out of my comfort zone. I truly believe I would not be the person I am today had I not gone to PTECH,” she stated.
Hannah Ryder (wearing red) is pictured with a group of PTECH students who were on a workplace tour of St. Mary’s Healthcare. Ryder is a 2019 PTECH completer.
