Meet Tracy Mathes, Tera Price Memorial Scholarship Recipient
Guest blog post from a surgical technology student and Kirtland Foundation scholar
Hello, my name is Tracy Mathes, and I am honored to have been chosen as a recipient of the Tera Price Memorial Scholarship. Thanks to this scholarship through the Kirtland Foundation, I can continue my education at Kirtland Community College.
I am currently in the final semester of the surgical technology program; my clinicals began in January 2021. After I finish this semester I will graduate with an associate degree in applied sciences and a certificate in surgical technology.
Then, I will take the certification exam to become a certified surgical technologist. My dedication and passion to surgical technology is what has allowed me to achieve the GPA necessary to earn both this scholarship, and a spot on the President’s List. After graduation, I plan to apply to the surgical first assist program at Delta College and go on to become a CST/CSFA.
In addition to my academic pursuits, I am a mother of a two-and-a-half-year-old girl, named Scarlett and married to my husband, Paul. I currently live in Saint Helen, Michigan, and I have for almost eight years. I am originally from South Lyon, Michigan, where I met my husband.
After moving here in the summer of 2013, I began my first semester at Kirtland Community College in the fall of 2014. When I learned about this program I started taking the prerequisite classes necessary to start in the fall of 2016.
Unfortunately, life had other plans and I unexpectedly had to end the program due to unforeseen circumstances. A few short years went by and I decided I was not going to give up on my dream to finish this program.
After taking the necessary steps to reenter the program I was able to endure a pandemic and finish. But this time, I finished on the President’s List coupled with the honor of being awarded the Tera Price Memorial Scholarship and I could not be more pleased with myself and all my hard work. Crossing paths as fellow surgical technology classmates in 2016, I had the pleasure of getting to know Tera, which I believe to have been an award all on its own.
Receiving this scholarship has shown me that arduous work is the key to success. It means that with challenging work, comes great reward. It has also shown me what it feels like to succeed and to carry out something without giving up, as this is my very first scholarship I have ever been awarded. I cannot express enough how grateful I am for this award. It means more to me than I can even fully put into words. It has shown me that sometimes you must get knocked down lower than you ever were, to stand taller than you have ever been.
After completing both programs, I will have met the goals I set and followed my dream of becoming a CST/CSFA. Most importantly, I plan to take the knowledge, skill set, and life lessons that I have learned at Kirtland and apply them wherever I go in life. Thank you, sincerely, for awarding me the Tera Price Memorial Scholarship. It is an honor to have earned this scholarship and to have the same passion for surgical technology that Tera had. It means so much to me and has fueled my fire to continue my education, follow my dreams, and never give up.
The Tera Price Memorial Scholarship was established in 2019 by Bob E. Stewart in memory of Tera Price, CST who was a graduate of the Kirtland Community College Surgical Technology Program, and a CST at MidMichigan Medical Center Midland. Tera bravely fought but lost her battle with cancer in 2019. It was Tera’s dream to become a surgical technologist and this scholarship shares that excitement for the profession by providing up to $1,000 annually to Surgical Technology students at Kirtland Community College.
