BEMIDJI — One of Northwest Technical College’s graduates this spring will finish her schooling, but not her education.
Jael Schmidt is set to wrap up an 11-month dental assisting program at the college, and will hone her new skills this summer at a pair of internships in Grand Forks, N.D. She said one of those companies is looking for a full-time hire.
“So then I have job options after that,” Schmidt said.
She came to NTC after a one-year stint at a four-year college, where she said she wasn’t sure what her interests were and didn’t want to pay tuition just to flounder. She eventually moved home and worked at her dad’s contracting company and cleaned houses with her mom.
“I think I always knew I planned on going back to college when I withdrew, so it was just more about finding what I was gonna do when I went back,” Schmidt said.
Schmidt said she’s always been interested in dentistry. She moved to Bemidji last July specifically to study at the technical college’s dental assisting program and is particularly interested in cosmetic dental work and oral surgery. She’s also considered dental hygiene school or studying to become a full-fledged dentist.
“I was just evaluating what am I actually interested in. That was what I found,” she remembered. “I could do this.”