ROCKINGHAM — Roderick Hudgen thought he wanted to be a doctor. His mom and grandma were both in the health field — his mom is an occupational therapist and his grandma is a CNA — and the classes came easy for him.
“I always knew I wanted to pick something that would make money, so I was like ‘doctor’,” he said with a laugh. “At first I thought it was a little kid type dream when you tell your teacher that you want to be a doctor, but I said I would go for it.”
The moment he knew the health field was the career path he wanted to take was back when he was in the 10th grade. The terminology came easy to him and he really liked it.
“Everything just came naturally,” he said.
Hudgen is completing his internship at Murphy Chiropractic. There, he operates machines, files charts, inputs patient information in their system and keeps everything sanitized. But during his time at his internship, he’s also discovering what he wants to do moving forward.
“This is my first internship and it’s shown me what I like and what I don’t like,” said Hudgen. “I’m looking at what interests me, and right now I’m looking at neurology. I had a psychology class and I really liked it.”
Hudgen is looking at several college options including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Appalachian State University and East Carolina University.
Hudgen is thankful for the CTE program at Richmond Senior High School. He said it not only you teaches you a field, but also how to work under pressure.
“They can’t keep telling me what I need to do, like do this or do that, all the time,” he said. “So it makes you adjust and that’s really good.”
