In the span of about two hours Wednesday, 19 seniors at Booker T. Washington High School learned what a “rad tech” is, the difference between a CT and an MRI,and how physicians use imaging equipment to diagnose a stroke.

The trip to Tulsa’s Saint Francis Hospital was part of the Tulsa Regional Chamber-led Career Exploration initiative. Announced in January by Chamber Chair Bill Knight, the initiative pairs local employers with juniors and seniors from Tulsa Public Schools to offer them real-world career discovery.

Guided by Rue Ramsey, the Chamber’s vice president of workforce and talent strategies, Wednesday was the first of 10 such experiences the Chamber will coordinate in 2025. It featured three members of a radiology leadership team who spoke about their field and led a tour of their department.

“I always say, ‘Young people can’t aspire to be what they can’t see,’” Ramsey said. “In Tulsa, early career exploration, especially with major employers like Saint Francis, is a powerful win-win. High school students gain real-world insights while companies connect early with future local talent.”

Locally owned and operated, Saint Francis Health System is the largest health system in eastern Oklahoma, employing about 13,000 people. With 1,112 beds, Saint Francis Hospital is the 11th-largest hospital in the country, said Amanda Espino, talent project manager for Saint Francis Health System.

The students’ walk-through on Wednesday included discussions of industry trendsand education requirements for jobs such as a radiologic technologist. They also learned about diagnostic image methods that use CTs (computed tomography) and MRIs (magnetic resonance imaging).

“As soon as I called imaging, they were like ‘absolutely,’” Espino said. “A lot of people always think of doctors and nurses when they think of the medical field, so they may not even think about healthcare.

“But there are so many opportunities where you don’t have to go to a four-year college. You can get training right out of high school. You can even start the job with your high school diploma as an imaging tech to see if it’s a field you want to go into before you commit to your studies. It’s really important for Saint Francis to make others outside our health system aware of the opportunities inside of it.”

Accompanying the students was Marla Cole, the college and career advisor at Booker T. Washington.

“In this mix you have some that are going to tech (school) to be a nurse tech,” she said. “You also have some students who will be going to maybe Ivy League schools to study to be a doctor.

“We have a pretty wide range. There are a lot of things behind the scenes, like at this department, that they are not going to know about until they see it or hearabout it. There also are a lot of socio-economic disadvantaged students, and they don’t get exposure to anything outside their world. Part of my job is to take them places.”

Additional student tours of local employers will continue throughout 2025. For more information on the Chamber’s Career Exploration initiative, contact Rue Ramsey at 918-560-0294, or [email protected].