Hannah Webb says Gateway helped her to decide her future career, helped her financially and then provided her with solid training to succeed as a critical care paramedic.
“Gateway has had an impact on my life in so many ways. They really set me up for success.”
— Hannah Webb, Gateway Technical College graduate
Gateway helped Hannah Webb — so she was able to help others.
That’s exactly how Hannah likes to phrase it: Gateway gave her the financial and educational foundation to help her become what she is today.
And her impact on others can’t be diminished. Webb serves as a critical care paramedic on a local Flight For Life crew, taking care of those who’ve been severely injured and need skilled medical help.
“Gateway has had an impact on my life in so many ways,” Webb said. “They really set me up for success. The college began by helping me financially to afford college, then provided me with the foundation to successfully begin my career. Because of that, Gateway also set me up for financial success in my life. They have done so much to help me get where I am today.”
Connections to Gateway run deep
Webb’s connections with the college run deep and began when she was a high-schooler who was unsure what career she wanted to pursue. Through Youth Options, she looked to Gateway to give her some guidance. Initially, she considered business or even music before her mom told her to look into the health care field.
It was something which she considered again — and again and again — as she earned several different health care certifications and degrees to land her dream job in a highly demanding and highly skilled career field.
“I think it’s cool that I was able to get so much education in less than 10 years. Think of how many people I was able to help in that time frame, and it was all because of Gateway,” she said.
As a high school senior, she began EMT and certified nursing assistant courses at Gateway. She earned her EMT national certification the day she graduated high school, but still said she was unsure of her full-time career goal.
She began working as an EMT, though, and enrolled at Gateway through the Promise tuition-free college program. She says she’s unsure how she would have been able to pay for her Gateway degree without the program.
Gateway has had an impact on Hannah Webb’s life in many ways, leading to four different credentials earned at the college.
College opportunities help Webb succeed
“The opportunities provided to me as a Promise student were huge,” she said. “Part of me is speechless at how much it helped me. I grew up in a financially unstable environment, and it would have been a big struggle to get my education.”
The Promise set me up financially even after I graduated from Gateway. It helped me pay for my Paramedic Technician degree — and then I was able to enter that career and use the money I earned there to pay for the rest of my education to be where I am now. I didn’t have to worry about student loans when I went back to college — I paid for my degree.”
In addition to the Promise program, she says the two aspects of Gateway which helped her the most were the caring and knowledgeable instructors and flexible course offerings.
“Gateway offers a lot to its students,” she said. "And while I didn’t use some of those extra resources, I knew they were available if I needed them and I knew they were helping other students. I also was able to build some great relationships with my instructors and my fellow students and am in contact with them, even to this day."
Her educational path may have been varied — she earned four degrees and certifications at Gateway, plus some more at another technical college — but her studies have shaped the career she’s thriving in today.
For more information on Gateway’s health programs, visit gtc.edu/health-cluster.
