In The Spotlight ...
Kathleen McElvenney
Radiography Major
Class Of 2010
Collegeville
“When I graduated from high school, I started college but then stopped after I got married,” Kathleen said. “I was hired by an insurance company and made that my career. Getting laid off gave me a chance to change direction.”
Kathleen enrolled at the West Campus of Montgomery County Community College in Pottstown in the radiography program and will graduate in May 2010 with an Associate of Applied Science degree.
In the fall, she will continue her studies in radiation therapy at Thomas Jefferson University to earn her bachelor’s degree. Her future goals include working with cancer patients as a radiation therapist and eventually attaining her master’s degree in order to teach radiography.
Her mother’s fight with lung cancer and successful treatment at Fox Chase Cancer Center inspired her to pursue this career path.
“I was impressed how wonderfully they treated her,” she said. “She started with this negative of having to face cancer yet the caretakers made it a positive experience because they treated patients with respect and dignity.”
Similarly, Kathleen incorporates this same philosophy of kindness in her daily life by volunteering to help others whenever and wherever she can.
As the president of the Radiography Club, for example, she helps the group organize and conduct fundraisers.
“We volunteer to collect donations for Haiti and for the Ronald McDonald house,” she said. “We also raise money to send students to a radiography conference to enhance their education.”
As a member of the Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society, she helped to collect non-perishable food for families in need, and she volunteers with book sales and clerical tasks at her 14-year-old daughter’s school. She regularly donates blood to the American Red Cross.
As a member of the Lambda Nu Radiographic Honor Society, she earned a scholarship in 2009.
Outside of class, Kathleen spends most of her time working in the Learning Assistance Lab helping others learn.
“One of my professors recommended that I volunteer at the lab because she thought I would be good at it,” she said. “Tutoring students and seeing their happiness when they learn, makes it all worth it.”
While working in the lab, Kathleen tries to emulate the teaching style of some of her professors by breaking down complex subjects into smaller, understandable pieces and then relating them back to the entire complex picture.
In addition to the knowledge and experience she gained in the classroom at the College, Kathleen also appreciates the hands-on experience she had during the clinical rotation in hospitals, doctors’ offices and radiology centers working with a variety of equipment.
