by Phyllis Van Holland

Peninsula College

“This will be my third Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degree,” says Shawna M. Priest, who is now enrolled in the Medical Assisting program at Peninsula College.

“I would not have been able to say that without P.C. It has allowed me to move up the career ladder and become independent,” Priest says.

Her other degrees include two AAS degrees in Administrative Office Systems, one with an Accounting Specialization and the other with an Administrative Assistant Specialization.

A member of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, Priest has been working as a receptionist at the Jamestown Family Health Clinic in Sequim for the past four years and plans to stay there, noting it is a wonderful place to work. But she always has wanted to become more involved with the patients.

“I enjoy working with them,” she says, and a degree from the Medical Assisting program should allow her to do just that.

Priest says she’s glad she’s attending Peninsula College.

“It’s a great college with wonderful, caring instructors,” she says.

With a full-time job and going to school full-time, Priest has little time left, but what she has she devotes to her two children and her new granddaughter, “the new joy in my life.”

The Longhouse Scholarship is available for one student per year from each local tribe: Hoh, Makah, Quileute, Lower Elwha, Jamestown and Port Gamble S’Klallam. Recipients of the Peninsula College Longhouse Scholarship are nominated by their tribe.

For more information about the Peninsula College Longhouse Scholarship or about Peninsula College, contact Ami Magisos at Diversity@pencol.edu or call 417-7987.