Medical Sonography combines two loves for SPCC grad

Kirk Castle considers himself a computer nerd. And, he likes helping people. When he began exploring careers in a medical field, his wife suggested sonography as a possibility and the more he looked into it the more he liked the idea.

A Charlotte resident, he graduated from South Piedmont Community College on Friday, May 11, with an associate degree in Medical Sonography.
“By nature, I’m kind of a computer nerd,” Castle said. “I really like the technology portion of it. I’ve always been really good with people and I enjoy helping people out. I really like how ultrasound combines those two aspects into one particular job.”

Castle already has a job lined up as a PRN sonographer for Carolinas Medical Center-Mercy. PRN stands for “per required need,” which means the hospital schedules him as it needs him. He’s looking for a second PRN job, but believes he could get up to 30 hours a week with just the one.

Castle, 29, did not start out pursuing a job in a medical field.

A native of Watertown, N.Y., he earned an undergraduate degree in Public Relations, with a minor in Business Administration from State University of New York at Oswego.

“Upon graduating, my father’s company was relocating to Charlotte,” he said. “I moved down here with them. Job opportunities were very scarce in the area that I’m from. I ended up doing a lot of sales positions, things like that.”

He also met Amanda, the woman who became his wife. She is a nurse at Carolinas Medical Center’s main facility in downtown Charlotte.
“After getting to know her, she was always very happy with her job in the medical field,” he said. “I was not finding the same conditions in my positions in the business world.”

Castle also has several other family members who are nurses, so he was familiar with the world of medicine. But, he did not want to return to college for the years it would take to go to medical school, he said, and nursing did not interest him.

“I ended up asking my wife what she could see me doing in the medical field,” he said. “She recommended radiation therapy or ultrasound.”

He went to an open house at SPCC to look at both, but never got past the Medical Sonography display. “As soon as I got in there, I looked at it and said that sounds like it fits me perfect,” he said. “I did the shadow class and have pursued that career from that point.”

He took some prerequisite classes in 2009 and 2010, then entered the program in the fall of 2010. While taking his prerequisites, he earned a Certified Nurse Assistant certificate. He worked full-time as a CNA for Carolinas Healthcare System for a year and a half while taking classes, before cutting back to part time for the last half year.

Balancing his life proved to be his biggest challenge. For example, on Fridays this past semester, he would do his clinicals for school from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., go home and sleep if he could, go work his regular job from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. and get home about 8 a.m. “Trying to find time for my family in the midst of doing the school work, doing my regular CNA job, keeping up with my family – doing all three things was definitely a challenge,” he said.

Still, returning to school has been “a great experience,” he said. “The clinical sites are all wonderful. The teaching staff that I’ve had has been really great, too.”

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Media inquiries: Rosemary Britt, 704-272-5342, rbritt@spcc.edu