I work as a Health Education Associate for the Santa Clara County Public Health Department in the Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention Unit under the Traffic Safe Communities Network Coalition/Safe Routes to School Program. My job is to go out to schools and educate K-8th grade students in the Santa Clara County on bike and pedestrian safety.

EDUCATION | I received my AS in Biological Science at a Mission College and my BS in Health Science with a focus on Health Service Administration at SJSU. I also have a minor in Business.

HOW TO GET STARTED | In our department, it is all about prevention from diseases and injuries. In this line of work, we are all willing to go out to the community and educate. Education is important in helping prevent diseases and injuries. This is good for someone who likes to be around people and making a difference within their community.

MUST HAVE TRAITS | People person, being able to adapt to different environments/people, punctuality, be able to relate to people, open-minded, patience, big-hearted, etc.

how I got started | Throughout my college career, I was always a full-time student and worked full-time as well. That just meant I had to work even harder if I wanted to get into the highly competitive and impacted Nursing Program after transferring from a community college. As a Nursing student, I had to maintain a certain GPA and not fall below two C grades in the core nursing classes. I worked my jobs during the times when other nursing students were studying and I studied when they were sleeping. I am a very hardworking student who strives for excellence, but even that did not turn out for the best. I was kicked out of the SJSU nursing program and was asked to pick another major in order to continue my studies at the university. I decided on Health Science after hearing from a friend who minored in it; it was the closest to my original major where I did not have to start all over again. I actually liked the environment of Health Science more than Nursing. The difference I noticed was that in Health Science, students are always willing to work together and help each other out to succeed, whereas for Nursing, students do study together & help each other but in the end they were striving & competing to make sure they succeed. Along with that, the required classes for Health Science wasn't nearly as difficult as the Nursing classes. The major switch did not put me behind at all; I was able to graduate within three years after transferring to SJSU.

why this job?| I wanted to do nursing but in a different way; I wanted to prevent people from being sick. My intention was to work in the community and help others individually like perhaps social workers do. I wasn't quite sure I wanted to do bedside work for my career. Although I highly respect those who do. I didn't think I was going to do public health education since I didn't think I would be good at teaching, but I just fell into it. I got my job through a referral from an individual who worked for the non-profit I interned at. They were associated with a program in Public Health, and they thought the Specialist position was a good fit for me and encouraged me to apply for it even though I didn't quite fit the qualifications(the experience). They kept me in mind and called me back for an entry-level position; they didn't hire one Specialist, but instead created an associate position. With them doing that, I felt special that they were impressed by me.

why I love this job!| I love working with people and kids. One of the things that I love is that I feel like I make a difference in a way. Safety is a huge issue, but we cannot save the world in one night. If we go out and teach the kids, that is the first step to prevent injury. Most cases, action isn't done until something has happened. It's our job to help kids learn how to prevent injury by learning how to be safe. We help build the foundation to better safety.

my typical day| My typical day depends on where I am; I could be at the office doing administrative tasks or I am at the schools doing presentations or assessment work. When I am in the office, I go through emails and make phone calls to principals/coordinators at schools to either remind them of events that are coming up, ask them if I can do a presentation at their school, or schedule events. Sometimes I have meetings with the Specialists to see if there is anything that I can do. When I am not at the office, I can be doing walk & bike assessments (We count kids walking and biking to school), attending meetings (planning meetings), giving student education (bike rodeos & presentations), giving parent education, etc.

what they are | In our program, we work with over 30 schools and it is not a job that one person can do. There are three of us who are working on this project and the hard part is that there is not enough time in the day. Since we are getting paid through a grant, we are limited to time on when we can work. If we had all the time in the world, our work would be easier. We are contracted workers where we are restricted to 1040 hours. After those hours, they can cut us out or rehire us for the next fiscal year or six months later, whichever comes first. The hours have to be evaluated to work throughout the school year because we have to accommodate the hours for the program. During the summer, we save hours to prepare for the school year.

all about growth | From my current position, I can become a Specialist. In order to do that, I can either obtain a Masters degree or go through a series of steps. If not, I can always switch programs, such as the program relating to tobacco, but I would have to reapply and compete with the public. I can always ask if I can come back to do presentations only.

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