By Matti Maya
National Surgical Technologist Week is filled with special recognition for students at Glendale Career College (GCC) in Glendale, California.
At GCC, NSTW has been an annual event for the past 25 years. Students are recognized for their outstanding academic achievements and the campus shows its appreciating with special events, including visits from local surgeons who are active in the Program Advisory Committee for Surgical Technology. There also are demonstrations involving surgical procedures and specialty instrumentation, public presentations, a special cake honoring the week, and raffle drawings. College staff prepares and serves food for the surgical technology students in appreciation for their hard work. Students in their clinical rotations and preceptors are also recognized.
“Our clinical partners look forward to the delivery of hot, fresh tamales in celebration of National Surgical Technologist Week,” said Matti Maya, program director at GCC. “It has become a tradition over the years, and we look forward to making these annual deliveries to our colleagues and clinical partners to show our appreciation and to recognize the enormous contribution they make to our students’ education in the field of surgical technology.”
Maya has been a certified surgical technologist for the past 20 years and is a certified registered central service technician. She and her team of instructors put many planning hours into the activities and recognitions for NSTW. It is her goal to involve every surgical technology student in the classrooms as well as the clinical s