Meet the Candidates for the March Election
Candidates for Office
Brooke Oliver, M.Ed., C.S.T
Running for: President
Years in AST: 17
Current position: Program Director of Surgical Technology at Richland Community College
Previous ISA offices held: President, Vice President, Secretary, Board of Directors
Goals and Candidate Statement: I believe the ISA plays a vital role in helping the advancement of our profession. I strive to achieve state and national certification requirements, and I will continue to work with lobbyists, hospitals, and governing bodies around the state to promote certification requirements for surgical technologists. As an educator, one of the most important goals I have is promoting the education of qualified surgical technologists and achieving mandated certification on a state level. I feel this is the next step in advancing surgical technology as a profession and will continue to fight for the rights of patients, ensuring a safe operating room environment and mandatory educational requirements for surgical technologists.
Sonya Conton, C.S.T
Running for: Vice President and Conference Delegate
Years in AST: 13
Current Position: Unity Point Health CST
Previous ISA offices held: Vice President, Board of Directors
Goals and Candidate Statement: My goals for the Illinois State Assembly are to increase membership, create continuing education opportunities, and generate fund raising to improve the budget. There is strength in numbers. I believe that recruitment is essential to increasing membership levels. Secondly, more CST continuing educational opportunities need to be developed throughout the State. Many nursing Continuing Education Units provided by hospital forums are not written according to AST criterion. Although hospital in-services are available, they cannot be used for renewal requirements. My final goal is to generate funds to expand the budget. Funds are needed to maintain and elevate the Illinois State Assembly functions.
Jennifer Jordan, C.S.T
Running for: Treasurer and Conference Delegate
Years in AST: 12
Current position: Program Director of Surgical Technology at Southern Illinois Collegiate Common Market
Previous ISA offices held: Board of Directors
Goals and Candidate Statement: It has always been a goal to get involved with the ISA to see our profession move forward and hopefully in the near future we will see a requirement for ALL surgical technologist to be certified. In my opinion every surgical patient deserves to have a fully competent surgical tech. With the shortage of techs, there are more and more facilities hiring people with no education to train them to be a surgical technologist, this is very scary. Our profession needs to be seen and valued within healthcare. I have been involved for the last 3 years and would like to continue to be involved. I would like to see more Southern Illinois members get involved and attend workshops/meetings. This would help in the future to possibly have some workshops closer than 4-5 hours away in the future. I have heard other members say that our meetings are too far away for them to attend, this would also allow more opportunities for workshops to be held around the state.
Bridget Hoffenkamp, C.S.T.
Running for: Board of Directors
Years in AST: 16
Current position: Program Director of Surgical Technology at Elgin Community College
Previous ISA offices held: None
Goals and Candidate Statement: To be of service to fellow members, students, and colleagues of the profession. To learn and share professional ideas and professional knowledge in order to benefit the career of surgical technology for myself and for others.
Misty Metcalf, C.S.T
Running for: Board of Directors
Years in AST: 9
Current position: Program Director of Surgical Technology at Midwest Institute
Previous ISA offices held: None
Goals and Candidate Statement: To improve my student’s education and my program. To improve certification scores and contribute my knowledge.
Delegate Candidates for Conference
Brooke Oliver
Sonya Conton
Jennifer Jordan
Emily Gregg
Melissa Jensen
Brooke Oliver, M.Ed., C.S.T
Running for: President
Years in AST: 17
Current position: Program Director of Surgical Technology at Richland Community College
Previous ISA offices held: President, Vice President, Secretary, Board of Directors
Goals and Candidate Statement: I believe the ISA plays a vital role in helping the advancement of our profession. I strive to achieve state and national certification requirements, and I will continue to work with lobbyists, hospitals, and governing bodies around the state to promote certification requirements for surgical technologists. As an educator, one of the most important goals I have is promoting the education of qualified surgical technologists and achieving mandated certification on a state level. I feel this is the next step in advancing surgical technology as a profession and will continue to fight for the rights of patients, ensuring a safe operating room environment and mandatory educational requirements for surgical technologists.
Sonya Conton, C.S.T
Running for: Vice President and Conference Delegate
Years in AST: 13
Current Position: Unity Point Health CST
Previous ISA offices held: Vice President, Board of Directors
Goals and Candidate Statement: My goals for the Illinois State Assembly are to increase membership, create continuing education opportunities, and generate fund raising to improve the budget. There is strength in numbers. I believe that recruitment is essential to increasing membership levels. Secondly, more CST continuing educational opportunities need to be developed throughout the State. Many nursing Continuing Education Units provided by hospital forums are not written according to AST criterion. Although hospital in-services are available, they cannot be used for renewal requirements. My final goal is to generate funds to expand the budget. Funds are needed to maintain and elevate the Illinois State Assembly functions.
Jennifer Jordan, C.S.T
Running for: Treasurer and Conference Delegate
Years in AST: 12
Current position: Program Director of Surgical Technology at Southern Illinois Collegiate Common Market
Previous ISA offices held: Board of Directors
Goals and Candidate Statement: It has always been a goal to get involved with the ISA to see our profession move forward and hopefully in the near future we will see a requirement for ALL surgical technologist to be certified. In my opinion every surgical patient deserves to have a fully competent surgical tech. With the shortage of techs, there are more and more facilities hiring people with no education to train them to be a surgical technologist, this is very scary. Our profession needs to be seen and valued within healthcare. I have been involved for the last 3 years and would like to continue to be involved. I would like to see more Southern Illinois members get involved and attend workshops/meetings. This would help in the future to possibly have some workshops closer than 4-5 hours away in the future. I have heard other members say that our meetings are too far away for them to attend, this would also allow more opportunities for workshops to be held around the state.
Bridget Hoffenkamp, C.S.T.
Running for: Board of Directors
Years in AST: 16
Current position: Program Director of Surgical Technology at Elgin Community College
Previous ISA offices held: None
Goals and Candidate Statement: To be of service to fellow members, students, and colleagues of the profession. To learn and share professional ideas and professional knowledge in order to benefit the career of surgical technology for myself and for others.
Misty Metcalf, C.S.T
Running for: Board of Directors
Years in AST: 9
Current position: Program Director of Surgical Technology at Midwest Institute
Previous ISA offices held: None
Goals and Candidate Statement: To improve my student’s education and my program. To improve certification scores and contribute my knowledge.
Delegate Candidates for Conference
Brooke Oliver
Sonya Conton
Jennifer Jordan
Emily Gregg
Melissa Jensen