Kettering Health Nursing Assistant Finds Success in Ponitz Pipeline Program
Ponitz Pipeline is a program created by Dr. Susan Price to build a relationship between Kettering Health, Kettering College, and Ponitz Career Technology Center in Dayton (Ponitz). Students in the allied health program meet with mentors from Kettering College to help guide them toward a career in healthcare.
There are several success stories of students discovering rewarding careers in healthcare as a result of this program that was created in 2006. Ponitz graduate Ranasia Sims is one of them. With her focus set on reaching her goals, she is proving that she is unstoppable. When she toured Ponitz in middle school, she knew immediately she wanted to be in allied health one day. As she toured the school, she told herself, “I need to be here.”
She was accepted into the allied health program at Ponitz and soon began to meet with various mentors from Kettering College who listened to her, guided her, and instilled her with a belief in herself to keep going. While attending Ponitz, she started taking college courses and graduated high school with 22 college credits, giving her a head start on her career goal of becoming a nurse.
Her ambition was to graduate and have a job lined up, so she gathered her resume and portfolio. Almost as soon as she applied for jobs, Sims received several calls for interviews but ultimately decided on accepting a nursing assistant position with Kettering Health Dayton. She says she likes serving patients in her own community where she’s close to family.
“I want to be the person who can say she made something happen for her family.”
She works a 12-hour night shift on the cardiovascular floor and says, “I love helping people. Yes, it’s hard work, and I never know what to expect, but I love leaving my job at the end of my shift knowing I’m doing what I am meant to do.” She says her job is training her to be a hard worker who can handle a lot of different experiences. She says, “I’ve learned to let things go and stay focused on my goals.”
Sims has learned so much serving patients at Kettering Health Dayton that she feels it has prepared her for nursing school. She is never afraid to ask nurses questions, and she loves the way they make her feel like family and share their knowledge with her and cheer her on. She receives compliments and praise after every shift from her teammates. She says, “Getting that email from the charge nurse really helps. Sometimes I really need that after a challenging night on the job to remind me I’m on the right path.”
“I love leaving my job at the end of my shift knowing I’m doing what I am meant to do.”
She has known for a while that she wants to be a nurse because she loves helping people and she inherited her mom’s strong work ethic. The oldest of five siblings, she proudly says she feels like the leader of them and is happy to show her younger brothers that they too can do anything if they work hard. She says, “I want to be the person who can say she made something happen for her family.” She keeps telling her brothers they can be whatever they want to be, but what’s more impressive is that she shows them that by tackling her own dreams with such focus, grit, and maturity at only 19 years of age.
Ranasia Sims is the first person in her immediate family to attend college, and they could not be prouder. She will be starting her nursing classes in the coming year and is hoping to transfer to Kettering College. She said she would like to go back to Ponitz and be a speaker for current students to help mentor and encourage them. She says, “Sometimes you need that help to know what’s out there and what you can accomplish.”
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