• Already well ahead of the game

Sydney Smith may only now be graduating as the No. 2 student in her class at Centre High School, but she’s already well on her way to a career she’s dreamed of in nursing because she’s worked two years as a nursing aid at St. Luke Living Center.

“I’ve worked and worked and worked,” she said, and saved to go to college.

Since she was 15, Sydney has waited tables at Al’s Cafe, but having helped in heath care at home with older family members, she developed a “passion for helping.”

As soon as she was able — at age 16 — she got her certified nursing assistant credential. She’s been hands-on helping older people at St. Luke’s by bathing, feeding, and dressing them. She got her medication nursing assistant certification this year. 

Still, she had time to be a normal high school kid, packing into her schedule a 3.89 GPA, serving as class vice president and as president of the National Honor Society and participating in volleyball, basketball, cheerleading, Future Farmers of America, and Future Business Leaders.

There’s job security in nursing, Sydney said. “They need nurses everywhere.”

And that allows her to go off to Kansas State University, certain of her declared pre-nursing major. While the outlines of the dream are not fully focused yet, she expects her four years away will help her “find out if I’m more small town or if I like the big city better.

“When the change happens,” she said, “I really want to discover where I want to be and where I want to have a life and have a family.”