Hello! My name is Jenna Gooding and I am a Clemson University alumni. I graduated from Statesville Christian School in 2020 and from Clemson University in May of 2024 with a bachelor of science degree in Spanish and International Health. I will be returning to Clemson in August, 2026, to attain a Master's degree in Biomedical Engineering. This degree will allow me to combine my clinical knowledge, creativity, and passion for the medical field to improve the medical devices we already have, as well as create new inventions to improve the field as a whole.
In the past 12 years, I have had a few different jobs and internships, in which I learned many skills. I worked for 5 years at a boat and jetski rental company on Lake Norman in NC. In this job, I had many positions including making reservations, doing operation walkthroughs and financial closings, and training other employees. This allowed me to build upon communication, technology, and adaptation skills. I also did an internship during summer 2022, in which I worked at a law firm in Surfside, SC. While this wasn’t on my list of potential careers, I wanted to experience different settings and understand how different fields of work operate. I did confirm that it was not the right job for me, but the experience gave me new skills, such as improved critical thinking which will assist me in areas of research and quality control of medical devices. In July 2024, I started a job as a medical assistant at a primary care practice in Greenville, SC. After 9 months, I obtained my certification and worked as a certified medical assistant (CMA) until July 2026. Being a CMA helped me utilize the skills I had acquired in all of my previous jobs/internships.
One of the most impactful internships that I participated in was one that I did while studying abroad in Toledo, Spain. I interned at the National Hospital of Paraplegics in Toledo, where I got to shadow physical therapists, as well as participate in research of patients with spinal cord injuries. This experience truly allowed me to get a feel of what it would be like to work in a healthcare setting. It definitely confirmed my desire to work in medicine. I got practice in patient charting and patient interactions, and I was able to practice my Spanish in a healthcare setting, which is something I had never done. One of the most important skills I gained from interning at that hospital is cultural competence. There are a lot of differences between healthcare in different countries, and I knew that before, but when I actually experienced it, it was something that I had to learn again. This internship also introduced me to new technologies/medical devices used for physical therapy. This was something that contributed to my desire to be a biomedical engineer.
Another important skill I learned from my internship in Spain is how to interact with patients. I learned that it takes patience and careful dialogue. This was especially true when working with patients that didn’t speak English or Spanish very well. For example, there was a patient who was arabic, and we had to figure out how to communicate with him in the best way. This is important because with health assessments, it is important that the information is clear. We were first trying to just speak very slowly and clearly, but this was not working. We then were trying to translate each question one by one. However, at this point I remembered I had an application on my phone that translated whole documents with just a picture of it. We then used that application, so he could read all of the questions in Arabic without us taking time to translate each question one at a time. The communication skills I acquired during this internship assisted me in my job as a certified medical assistant in 2024-2026.
I am excited to continue learning new things about the medical field in my upcoming graduate program, especially the more detailed knowledge of the technology behind healthcare that makes it operational. My previous experience in the workforce has led to my current skills: effective communication, public speaking, conflict resolution, constructive criticism, and cultural competence. My core values are to incorporate enthusiasm into my everyday life, perform my best, contribute service in many different areas, and keep my values close while also learning and respecting other peoples’ values.