High Schoolers Consider Health Care Thanks to St. Luke’s Health Program

As a 17-year-old single mother, Alyssa had some big decisions to make as she prepared to graduate from Conroe High School. “I had to be able to pay for college and a 12-month-old,” she recalled. She worked at a grocery store and thought she might go into cosmetology.

Alyssa had pretty much ruled out health care until she went to a talk on opportunities in health care by Lisa Williams, Director, Patient Care Services at St. Luke’s Health-The Woodlands and Lakeside Hospitals.

It was life-changing.

“She gave me clarity about their day-to-day jobs and what I wanted to do,” she remembered. “I used to always say, I'm never going to be in health care. I don't see myself working with patients. I can't do bodily fluids. I can't see blood.”

Now, Alyssa is a junior at Sam Houston State University and will apply to nursing school in hopes of entering in 2026. She works as a Patient Care Technician at St. Luke’s-Lakeside Hospital, where she works directly with patients, doing everything from hourly rounds, vitals, even performing EKGs and drawing blood.

Alyssa is just one of many high school students who chose a career in health care, thanks to informative talks at the school by Williams and her St. Luke’s team.

“It started with a room full of students that wanted to come in, and that meeting evolved into what we're doing now,” said Jessica Beckham, College and Career Counselor for Conroe High School, the only career counselor for the 4th largest high school in Texas and its 5,300 students. “I wanted to expose students to careers besides being a doctor or nurse. There are so many things that they can do, and each month covers a different topic.” Speakers come from St. Luke's-The Woodlands and have covered the gamut from diagnostic imaging to pharmacy to EMS, facilities and more.

Presiding over a program that illuminates opportunities in health care is fitting for Williams, whose own career path has been a journey. She was one of five kids in her family and worked three jobs to pay for college. She started in disaster management but the loss of her sister, a nurse, to Lou Gehrig’s Disease, inspired her to pursue a career in nursing, then a Master’s in Business Administration.

“Often, students think that they need to go straight into nursing school or college, to major in biology and pre-med. They don't realize that you can start with a certification and work your way up, and often qualify for tuition reimbursement,” Williams said. “We tell them where they can go to earn these various degrees, whether they want to be a nurse or a technician. We tell them to just get your foot in the door.”

The staff are not merely speakers at a single event. They make themselves available to students as mentors. Kimberly Smesny, Manager, Patient Care Services, took Alyssa under her wing and continues as a sounding board. “It's nice that if I have any questions, they can help me. They've helped me look at nursing schools and things like that,” Alyssa said.

Alyssa recently returned to Conroe High School to share her experience. “A lot of them felt what I was feeling when I was in their shoes,” she recalled. But the indecision she felt as a high school senior is gone.

“I know that this is what I want to do. I don't see myself doing anything else and I know that I'll always have a job, whether I stay in the hospital or decide to do something else as a nurse, I'll always have something to fall back on,” she said.

Meantime, Williams and her team have spoken at numerous other schools and events and are thrilled by the success of the program. “We're just really trying to be that example for them. Once we get them to get that very first job in the hospital, I think they’ll be hooked.”