Hi Madison,

I received my information to log on as your career coach so here I am. I am most excited to be part of your path with PTech. I have work in medicine for 40+ years - yes that makes me a little old but still young at heart.

I have held a variety of positions: I started as an EMT for a private ambulance company; then became an x-ray tech; I added Nuclear Medicine and CT credentials to my name and started the Nuclear Medicine Dept at the hospital when the new addition was added in 1989. I wrote the NYSDOH Radiation License - yup, that is kind of a big thing. I then transitioned to IT and was the senior clinical analyst and interface specialist for 12 years. I am now the Director of Quality, Case Management and Accreditation for the hospital.

Truly an education in medicine last a lifetime and allows for movement and growth.

I saw your first assignment - very thought provoking. I am a golfer - I tell you this because the game of golf is much like the game of life. If you cheat at golf and erase a stroke or two off your score, you are impacting more than just your game that day. You are affecting the other people who played that day. You might get first place and the money that goes with it and they, the better players, lose out of placing. You are affecting your whole life, and the values and ethics you will learn to accept and live by. When you make that one change, lowering your score, you are allowing yourself to 'cheat' and they say it gets easier the next time. What will the next time be? Will it be at the grocery store as you don't pay for something? Will it be on a test that allows you access to a school program that you didn't study for? At the same time you accept those answers for the test, who else are you hurting - the person who studied but got a lower score than you because he/she didn't have ALL the correct answers; the person who worked so hard but wasn't good enough because you had the answers.

I know being in 10th grade it is hard to realize all these things in life as you haven't lived them yet. But I am sure you can think of a time when someone who cheated may have had an affect on you and you might have lost out on a program or prize because of that person being dishonest. But please take some time to think about this over the next few days before you write your response.

I look forward to seeing your posting and very much look forward to meeting you and working with you as you move towards your goal in medicine: maybe you will be an RN or Lab or X-Ray - the field of medicine is wide open and I have lived my life working in it. I feel it has been a good life and I was given a gift by my career. I hope you will be too!

Thanks and good luck,

Lori Gokey