Sophomore jumps ahead to career dreams
For career opportunities, Meridian Community College sophomore Hailey Wells is discovering
the sky’s the limit.
“I think MCC has fit into my plans, into my life perfectly without me even realizing it,” said the 20-year-old Meridianite, who will graduate in May with her associate in arts degree.
Earlier this month, Wells enlisted in the Air National Guard to become a boom operator as a refueling specialist. “I’ll be in the bottom of the big planes. I’ll fly over refueling jets. That’s my dream job - to be on an airplane,” she said.
As a child, Wells would beg her mom to pull the car over to let her wave at airplanes. “And during my breaks at MCC, I go to Key Field and watch the planes land and take off while I study. I’ve always loved it, and I’m super excited to be a part of it now,” she said.
But her path to her dream hasn’t always been clear cut. She wanted to start her college career at a different institution, but she was sold once she came to MCC. Wells got involved in the student recruiting team, Ivy League Recruiters, and as a member, she said, “I got to do and see so many things.”
Her initial career desire was to become a physician’s assistant and she set her sights on studying health science. To gain a deeper understanding of the field, Wells worked in a local hospital’s emergency room beginning in October 2019 – a position she held for a year. “I realized that might not be exactly what I want to do but I am still interested in health sciences,” Wells said.
Working night shifts and doing online school was challenging – especially when the pandemic raged. “But you just have to find your groove,” Wells said. “I’m glad I worked in the emergency room because that definitely helped me to figure out what I did and didn’t want to do.”
At the end of the Fall 2020 semester, Wells became concerned about her next steps. “I was feeling flustered. So, I started praying really hard about it. And I ended up listening to this podcast where the guest speaker used an analogy about airplanes. I was boohooing alligator tears because I felt like it was meant for me to be on the airplane,” Wells said.
Her college choice has been a meant-to-be thing, too. “If I had gone anywhere else, I wouldn’t have gotten to work at the emergency room and to figure out what direction I want to go in and I wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity to interview for different things at the Air National Guard,” she said.
She also said if she had enlisted into the guard before coming to MCC, Wells doubts she would be offered a boom operator position.
After she returns from her military training, Wells said she may consider pursuing a health science degree on the civilian side. “Because that’s still very interesting to me,” she said.
“To be able to do both would be awesome,” she said.
Wells added, “I feel very confident in doing what I’m doing right now; if it changes, it changes. I’m very comfortable and confident about where God’s putting me.”