Elizabeth Rodriguez, RN, a registered nurse at Tanner, was named the Technical College System of Georgia's (TCSG) 2021 student of the year, earning her the top spot as the college system's Georgia Occupational Award of Leadership (GOAL) winner.
The GOAL program recognizes the most outstanding students at TCSG's 22 technical colleges.
"Through her hard work, leadership and passion for helping others, Elizabeth has rightfully earned this tremendous honor as TCSG's student of the year," said TCSG Commissioner Greg Dozier. "She has the admiration of her peers, her college and the entire Technical College System of Georgia. I know that the West Georgia Technical College community is extremely proud of her as she becomes this year's student ambassador for technical education across our state."
Rodriguez is no stranger to challenge. She almost welcomes it and tends to face every challenge head-on, leading with hard work and a lot of persistence.
That hard work has led her on a journey the past two years, culminating in a flurry of success.
And with the help of her supporters, she's now training her focus on helping other budding nursing like herself who want to build their careers in health care. She's also established a self-funded scholarship for graduating nurses.
"When deciding what to do with my life, I had a strong gravitational pull to come back to Georgia," said Rodriguez, 26, who was raised in Morristown, Tennessee. She has spent all of her life between the two states.
A few years ago, she came to Georgia and began school at West Georgia Technical College in Newnan.
Intent on building a career in helping others, she began exploring possible careers in health care.
"At first, I didn't know where to start or what specialty because the healthcare industry is vast," she said. "I entertained being an ultrasound technician and working pharmacy. I didn't know where to begin, but I have a cousin who is a sonographer in maternal and fetal medicine. She suggested becoming a medical assistant would serve me well because you can get certified in two years or less, which sounded like a great opportunity to enter healthcare and discover the possibilities from within."
Soon after, Rodriguez graduated from a certificate program and began her first job at Southern Crescent Women's HealthCare as a medical assistant.
As a medical assistant, Rodriguez got a lot of hands-on practice.
"I helped take care of patients, took vital signs, and worked with the doctors on exams, in-office procedures and minor surgeries. I was like a kid in a candy store, and I wanted to do more!" said Rodriguez.
"After two or three years, I realized that even though I like what I was doing so much, I had this gut feeling that I am capable of doing so much more. I wanted something a little more challenging and to do something where I could be more hands-on and provide individualized care. It was the support of the physician I worked with, T. Beckford, MD, FACOG, who was very supportive, that helped me believe I could be a nurse."
As Rodriguez studied to earn her nursing degree, she worked at the medical practice while gaining other certifications necessary to apply to the nursing program and attend classes three days a week at West Georgia Technical College in Newnan.
"It worked great because I could go to school on the weekends and still work Monday through Friday," said Rodriguez. "I also had a goal to graduate debt-free."
Working at a medical office in Fayetteville and schooling in Newnan wasn't the shortest commute, but she was determined to make it work.
Rodriguez was exemplary in school and at work, and her instructors and practice managers noticed.
"One day, while in my last course, microbiology, the last course I needed to apply to the nursing program, my instructor asked if I had some extra time after class to speak with him," said Rodriguez.
Rodriguez strives to be a leader in the classroom and at practice as a PRN, helping her coworkers and classmates wherever she can.
"I felt like that's just what you do. If you see someone struggling, you help them," she said.
Noticing her talents and hard work, Rodriguez's instructor Jeremy Bishop, MS, DC, wanted to nominate her for the GOAL award.
GOAL is a statewide competition where nominees compete by performing speeches and interviews on leadership and challenges they've faced as students in their respective programs.
The competition begins locally, with students competing with other students in their college, then moving on to a regional level with students from surrounding campuses, and finally a statewide competition with students from around Georgia.
She said the competition was stiff, going up against dozens of students from various programs and areas of study, including marketing, culinary arts, cosmetology, paralegal, construction management and industrial systems.
WGTC nominated nine students from its campus in Newnan, with dozens more selected from nearly 22 thousand students at 22 TCSG campuses across the state.
However, winning wasn't easy, as this was her second try at the GOAL award.
"The first year I competed, I didn't make it past my first round. That year was difficult, and I thought I had too much on my plate," she said. "The day before the competition, I had clinicals. The day after, I had tests — It was a lot, and I didn't feel good about it.
"I competed again in my second year in nursing school, and I'll always say that the first year of nursing school is the hardest because you have to adapt and learn a lot of new material and adjust to a whole new life."
She said the first year in the GOAL program presented various challenges, but perseverance was key to her success. And after talking to her instructor, Rodriguez may have been discouraged but not deterred.
"I talked to my professor and wanted him to know that I did my best," she said. "He told me that that's not what this award is about — it isn't about winning. At the dinner ceremony held for the nominees, he told me that he wanted to nominate me again. I was feeling defeated that I didn't even make it past the first round, but having my instructor believe in me was very reassuring."
The GOAL program requires nominees to complete a three-minute speech on why they decided to attend a TCSG school, followed by a 12-minute interview with corporate, academic and local community leaders from a host of industries, including past winners and members of KIA Georgia and Ed Voyles KIA of Chamblee. They sponsored the grand prize, a brand new 2021 KIA K5, delivered to Rodriguez after being declared the state's overall winner.
The news of being named the winner came on May 26, 2021, just weeks after graduating on May 13.
"I got to find out in front of my family and administrators at WGTC during a video call where I heard the commissioner Greg Dozier say, 'Elizabeth, I'll meet you outside with keys to your brand-new KIA.'"
"I don't think I'd ever been more on 'cloud nine' and it wasn't even about the car," said Rodriguez. "I realized what that achievement meant to me, my family, and all students considering a technical education. I knew that I had what it takes to assist them — regardless of what's in their head, no matter their confidence. They really can achieve anything they put they put their mind to."
Rodriguez's hard work continues to pay off and has opened greater opportunities for her and her career — but most importantly, she said, it's given her a chance to give back.
She's now a registered nurse working in the labor and delivery department at Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton. She even began a self-funded scholarship called The Resilience Award. She awards a one-time financial donation of $500 to graduating nursing students who display exceptional work ethic, determination, and perseverance throughout the RN program.
"I am so excited to help others and share what worked for me and what didn't," said Rodriguez. "Students want to speak with someone with some experience and someone who's been where they are to help ease anxieties that you have as a student, someone to tell them about programs and maybe even a few scholarships that are available to them."
She proudly awarded the first scholarship to a nursing student in December.
"With the help of the overtime money that I've earned at Tanner, I put away $500 for a scholarship," she said. "It will go to a nursing student each semester who is graduating to help with any cost they have between graduation and getting their first nursing job, for example, or maybe for their first set of scrubs or to fill their gas tank before getting their first paycheck. Whatever the case may be for the awarded student, it feels great to give back to a community that gave me everything—an opportunity and support to make it to where I am today."
As the state's GOAL winner, Rodriguez has also been on a leadership speakers circuit where she presents at leadership conferences across the state and here at Tanner.
"I got the chance to speak at one of Tanner's board of directors' meetings, and one of the members who is also a foundation member at WGTC granted some money the fund," she said. "While it started as a self-funded award, with this healthy donation, it is going to continue to help students for a long time.
And she recently learned that there more donations have been made to the fund.
She said that giving back and supporting others is what means the most.
"One of the best things on top of all of this is I don't only get to talk about helping others; I get to be part of the solution in helping others. And to do all of this in less than a year, it's so much more than I ever saw coming when I first enrolled at West Georgia Tech."
Support from her instructors and mentors, her family, and the power of prayer is what helped her through it all.
"And I would not be able to do this without Tanner either," she said. "I was fortunate to work with Tanner throughout school and some of my clinicals. Tanner has made so much possible for me. I still live in Newnan, so my commute is a little longer, but that doesn't matter much because the leadership and support that I've been given at Tanner have been great."
At home, Rodriguez's family is a wealth of support.
She and her husband, and high school sweetheart, Matthew Rodriguez, 27, have been together for twelve years.
"He is my favorite person, my best friend, and biggest supporter," she said. "None of this would have been possible without having him believe in me and telling me that I can do it."
And her parents were big supporters, too. With the pandemic ongoing, they moved to Georgia to be closer to Rodriguez and the rest of their family.
"I'm so thankful for my mom and dad, Miguel and Dolores Lara, and my siblings, Omar, 14, and Melissa, 13, who I had to be a role model for and who greatly influenced me and helped me believe in myself."
Through it all, Rodriguez said it had been quite a journey, but it keeps her reminded of why she chose healthcare.
"When I was in school, I wrote a report and learned that there were over a hundred different nursing specialties you can work in and so much growth and opportunities to help others — there's so much you can do. Just work hard and believe you can do it."
Learn more about Tanner and find your next career in health care at TannerCareers.org.