• Battle Ground High School, Clark County Skills Center, Running Start
• Call: U.S. Navy, emergency room trauma surgeon
Porter Kuhn has dreamed of a career in the medical field since she was a little girl.
“The medical field runs in my blood,” Kuhn said.
She has aunts and cousins in the nursing field. One grandfather served in the Army, another in the Navy.
She’s set her sights on a Navy career, first as a master at arms, or a member of the military police. Eventually, she plans to attend medical school to become an emergency room trauma surgeon.
The focus she learned by studying kung fu for 13 years has come in handy as she’s juggled classes at the Clark County Skills Center, Battle Ground High School and at Clark College through the Running Start program.
Kuhn is completing her second year in the applied medical sciences program at the Skills Center, where she’s the associated student body president. At age 16, she received her nursing assistant, certified. She’s just completed an internship at a physical therapy clinic.
Kuhn was sworn into the Navy on March 28. She’ll roll into boot camp on Nov. 5. Then she’ll head to four months of “A” School in San Antonio.
She’ll serve four years enlisted plus four years of ready reserves. For her commitment to the Navy, Kuhn will receive a yearly book allowance plus $80,000 for four years of college with the Post 9/11 GI Bill.
She plans to do pre-med at Edison State Community College in Florida and then transfer to medical school.
“My deployments will be on a ship three to six months out of the year,” Kuhn said. She plans to retire from the Navy at age 40.
“When I first brought the Navy up to my mom, she was hesitant,” Kuhn said. “But the Navy offers good benefits to help pay for school. I can travel around the world. My parents and I talked to the recruiter. They asked lots of questions. Now they’re proud of me.”
