One of the cool things about working at Lake Area Tech is that many of the programs involve hands on work, and the students need to practice their skills on real people. While there are some things – like drawing blood – that I’m too scared to even let seasoned professionals do to me unless it’s necessary, there are a lot of other things I have no problem volunteering to be a guinea pig for. I’ve gotten my nails done and my hair styled at the cosmetology department before, that one’s not free, but I still don’t mind letting them practice on me. There are quite a few other things that are free though, if you are willing to let them practice on you.

So far, I’ve gotten my headshots taken from the photography department; I got my teeth polished with dental assisting; I let the physical therapy assistant students treat me as a patient – that one I faked an injury for so they could practice dealing with patients; and this week alone I volunteered to help out two different programs.

I went back to dental assisting this week so one of the students could practice taking x-rays on me. First of all, if you know me, you know that getting x-rays taken at the dentist ranks up pretty close to getting my blood drawn – I do NOT like it!! I wasn’t intending to volunteer, but a student came to my office earlier this week and said she was having a hard time finding volunteers and if I would please help her, so I agreed. I think I gave her a run for her money for sure!

She starts getting everything ready and sticks the first x-ray thing in my mouth and goes, “Oh, wow, your mouth is a lot smaller than I thought it was. We’re going to have to do this differently.” And not only do I have a small mouth, but I have a very sensitive gag reflex, so I was struggling the whole time! Both of the instructors had to take turns coming in to help her – she’s still learning how to do it in the first place, and now she has a difficult patient making it even harder. I tried to be as supportive as I could, telling her she was doing a good job, and that I was sorry I was making it hard on her. But both instructors said she’d be dealing with difficult patients – and at least I was being nice about it! – and this was a good experience for her. But they also told me I don’t ever have to volunteer for x-rays again, which I won’t complain about!

Still, it was kind of cool! If I hadn’t been to the dentist office literally the week before, I could have just used the x-rays the student took instead of having to do it again – and it was free! So, if any of you are interested in getting x-rays taken and let a student practice on you, hit me up and I can connect you. 🙂

The second program I helped out this week was the law enforcement program. They had their wet lab on Friday where they had to practice their field sobriety tests to catch drunk drivers. So, thinking it would be kind of fun, I volunteered to be one of the drinkers for it! How often can you say you’re getting paid to drink at work!? And it was fun! I got to hang out with some of my co workers, some I knew well, and some I hadn’t gotten the opportunity to talk to very much before. It was kind of funny to see some of them let loose too haha!

It was super interesting. I had to go through four rounds of the field sobriety tests, going with two different students each round for a total of 8 times – and I got pretty good at it too! The third round I was out there, I went through the tests, and once I was done, the supervising officer asked the student if they would arrest me based on how I did. The student said no, she did pretty good. But they gave me a breathalyzer to confirm their suspicions and I blew a .072. Not over the legal limit, but pretty dang close! They said they probably should have arrested me at that point haha. And then the fourth time I went out there, I was definitely over the limit and they technically didn’t even need to breathalyze me to confirm it, but they did anyway. I blew a .115 that time and got “arrested.”

Glad Dan came and got me after that and I promptly passed out soon after I got home and slept for the rest of the afternoon. Friday night wasn’t super fun as the hangover settled in, but it was still a cool experience and I was glad I was able to help out the students. If you get the opportunity to try something like that, I’d recommend it!

But my point is, is that yes it can be a little scary to let someone try some of these things on you, but that’s how they learn!! I’ll try to pass on the word when I can, but if you get the opportunity to volunteer for some of these students, I definitely would tell you to go for it! Not only do you get some of these services for free, but they are so, so grateful to get the practice. It’s a win win for everyone!

I can’t wait to see what other things I get to check out at Lake Area Tech!

Until next time! 🙂

Megan Reiffenberger