Can a paramedical career lead to teaching?

Every once in a while, people get to dream of who and what they are going to be. But what if time itself chooses another path for them and they have no idea that they are already drifting apart from those dreams? And sometimes, when one dream ends, another is just beginning.

Perhaps that is how WEGO’s new human anatomy teacher, Kylie Bosco, came from the paramedic department to teach high school students.

Five years ago, Bosco would never have thought that she would one day become a teacher. Although she admits that when she was much younger, the thought of being a teacher crossed her mind, that goal did not last.

“I wanted to go to medical school, but I didn’t end up going that path. I went to a paramedic school instead,” Bosco said.

At one point during her years of paramedic school, she was able to teach some of her peers a lesson about neuroscience and feedback mechanism lectures. From there, Bosco got interested in teaching and fell in love with the idea of moving into education.

“When I got to teach in paramedic school, it kind of interested me more than an actual career of being a paramedic. So, I started thinking about that track more. I still wanted to finish paramedic school because I started it and I didn’t want to just quit and drop out, but I started thinking about and looking up more ways on like how I can follow through with a teaching career path instead of following through with a paramedic career path,” Bosco said.

As most paramedic schools were run as an extension of hospitals, Bosco applied to Good Samaritan Hospital’s EMS system.

Once finished with paramedic school, another journey opened for her. Through a program called “Teacher Ready”, which is accredited to the University of West Florida, Bosco obtained a certificate designed for people who already have a degree in another field and are going through a career change.

Today, in what may be a compromise of sorts between her two career paths, Bosco teaches several sections of human anatomy at West Chicago Community High School.

“Ms. Bosco is a great colleague. She fits in well with our chemistry team. I think Ms. Bosco is a wonderful person. She has a great sense of humor and she’s very helpful and caring. I’m so glad she decided to come teach at WEGO!” Christina Sladek, science teacher, said via email.

Bosco enjoys anatomy, in particular because that subject of science teaches a person everything they need to know about the human body.

“You walk around and you can look at someone superficially and say, oh, you know, that person’s short, or, you know, that person’s hair is brown, that person, you know, has a cut on their arm, but why do those things happen? And so, in human anatomy and physiology, we learn those processes, and get to know the background of what you see on a day-to-day basis,” Bosco said

For many students at WEGO, the name “human anatomy” conjures thoughts of dissection, and Bosco’s medical training means she is no stranger to the idea.

“We went through real cadavers, human cadavers, and helped us learn for our anatomy lab,” Bosco said.

The idea of dissecting is part of the fascination associated with how the human body works, and why students at West Chicago Community High School continue to enroll – in high numbers – in the course.

Though it is Bosco’s first year teaching at WEGO, many students and staff had positive feedback.

“I think Ms. Bosco is a great teacher. She does a good job connecting with students and likes to make jokes and laugh. I think the most fascinating thing about her is everything she’s involved in/been involved in. If I remember correctly, she was a D1 athlete for multiple sports and teaches gymnastics and she’s an EMT on the side? That’s crazy. Overall, she’s really nice, understanding, and helpful as a teacher,” junior Addison Jeffery said.

Aside from being a paramedic and teacher, there are many activities that Bosco is involved in: she does gymnastics (a little bit of tumbling, like cartwheels) but one thing she enjoys most is baking! She has fun learning new cupcake and cake recipes. One flavor she decided to make was a cupcake with raspberry buttercream icing, but Bosco could not decide which flavor she wanted to make for the cupcake itself, whether vanilla or chocolate. She ended up doing both through a filled cupcake.

“I like putting creative spins on traditional cupcakes. It’s always fun to find a jelly or candy filling when you take a bite,” Bosco said.

In college, Bosco used to bake almost every weekend; baking is an activity that makes her happy, and takes her mind off her busy schedule. Now a teacher, she cannot make cupcakes as often as she used to. Whilst busy, Bosco does carve out time to make cupcakes for every gathering, though. The only people who have eaten Bosco’s delicious cupcakes are her family and friends: whenever they would have an occasion or some get-togethers, she would bake for them with her whole heart.

Who would have thought? Not all who have used a scalpel will always prefer the instrument over a cake knife.

“Don’t be scared to do the work. You’ll be able to figure anything out,” Bosco said.