On the big stage, the moment was not too big for Julie Sundara.

Weeks after being one of the alumni guest speakers at RRC Polytech’s Spring Convocation, the Medical Radiologic Technology (MRT) alum and now clinical instructor for MRT students recounted the emotional experience.

“I was terrified beforehand,” she said, laughing. “I walked into the room early and I saw all these empty seats and felt the pit in my stomach. If you know the Eminem song ‘Lose Yourself’, that’s how I felt. This was my moment to step up.”

The nerves went away as Sundara shared hard-earned wisdom as the daughter of Laotian immigrants, as a student who struggled at times, and as an MRT professional.

“Your careers and your achievements are not only for you,” Sundara said at the convocation ceremony, speaking to a huge audience that included the graduating students of health sciences and information systems programs. “They’re a tribute to those who supported, encouraged, and mentored you. Honour your teachers, friends, and family by finding joy in your careers.”

After completing the two-year MRT program in 2008, Sundara began working with Shared Health at Health Sciences Centre (HSC). As a frontline radiologic technologist at Manitoba’s busiest trauma hospital, she gained experience ranging from in-patient treatment and the emergency department to the operating room and the morgue. Day shifts, night shifts, and double shifts were all part of the mix.

It’s a challenging field and there’s more to taking an X-ray than many people know, Sundara said.

“There’s an art,” she explained. “It’s not just pushing buttons. It’s like shooting pool – you think about the angles to shoot. Since bones are not square – they’re round, curved, sharp – you have to demonstrate the bones with different views. It takes proper positioning and an understanding of pathology, diseases, and what that looks like on an X-ray. You need to determine how strong and how many X-rays are necessary.”

Sundara loved the hands-on, technical work and interacting with patients. She took on extra responsibilities, building skills and demonstrating her competence.

Feeling she’d reached her potential in the field, though, Sundara was set to return to school to become an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) technologist when an opportunity arrived.

She moved into a .7 part-time position as a clinical instructor.

The part-time position had her working alongside then full-time instructor Christine Preachuk, whose support Sundara remains grateful for.

“She was my instructor when I was in school. I consider her a mentor; she’s so respected in our field.”

The new role was a nice change of pace after eight years on the floor. Then, while Sundara was on childbirth leave (her daughter Brynn is now four), she was offered a full-time clinical instructor position at HSC.

“The full-time position was an entirely different job with bigger responsibilities.”

She had to decide: say yes, or turn the job down knowing the opportunity might not come around again for a long time.

“I took it on, committing to learning the job the best I could. I’d come home, take care of Brynn, feed her, and put her to sleep. Then I’d be up from 10 p.m. until two in the morning, deep into my textbooks, reviewing physics and pathology and things I hadn’t thought about since I was a student!”

As their clinical instructor, Sundara makes sure her MRT students know that the human side of the job goes hand-in-hand with technical skill.

“That patient doesn’t want to be at the hospital. It’s probably a bad day for them. So, a smile or how you address the patient matters. Without compassion, you become a robot.”

She also recognizes the diversity of her students.

“Some students are young, without a lot of life experience. Then we have older students who are changing careers. It’s so much more diverse now. Part of that is recognizing different people learn in different ways.”

She makes a point to connect with students before their clinical training begins, helping out with their simulated labs at RRC Polytech’s Notre Dame campus.

“I like to introduce myself in their setting. Some students have never set foot in the hospital before, so I can kind of bridge the gap from classroom to clinic.”

It’s little wonder that one of her students called out “I love you!” during Sundara’s speech at convocation.

“That made me laugh and I relaxed a little bit. It was so sweet.”

Looking back at her own RRC Polytech experience, Sundara recalls engaged instructors (“I’m taking that to heart”) along with the concentrated, condensed learning.

“You couldn’t afford to slack or fall behind. I always say I wasn’t a great student in that respect. I had to improve my study habits.”

All her life, Sundara has drawn inspiration from her parents, who came to Canada from Laos in 1980 amid a period of social and political turmoil in mainland southeast Asia.

“They took jobs as custodians at the airport. Dad worked at Cara Food Operations. He was laid off when I was in Grade 12. He enrolled in the Fifth Class Power Engineering Technology program at Red River so he could get a good job.”

“I remember we were both at the kitchen table late at night – me studying calculus and him studying algebra. Meanwhile my mother was making $10 an hour and supporting our entire household. It was a tough time.”

While her parents are now retired (“they’re living their best life”), their hard work was foundational for Sundara and her two older sisters.

“Everything my parents went through explains why we are how we are. We owe our work ethic and grit to them.”

Her parents also supported her interest in playing sports in junior high at Sargent Park School and then in high school at Daniel McIntyre Collegiate. Sundara’s athletic career continued at RRC Polytech, where she played on both the Red River Rebels volleyball and basketball teams, winning the conference championship in volleyball and earning the All-Conference Athlete award for the Manitoba Colleges Athletic Conference.

One of 41 remarkable alumni featured in the Polytechnic Proud campaign, Sundara takes the recognition in stride.

“I’m a shy person but it was a real honour to see the billboard. Funny, it was right next to a boarded-up 7-11 in the neighbourhood where I grew up, rode my bike to, and got Slurpees. It’s just fitting.”

You can watch Sundara’s convocation address on YouTube.

Profile by Randy Matthes (Creative Communications, 1993).