Blinn Surgical Technology Program graduate heads to Mayo Clinic with a passion for patient care

Katie Smith will specialize in orthopedics and plastics at the renowned Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

July 25, 2025

Katie Smith thrives in high-pressure environments where precision and focus make all the difference. This fall, the recent Blinn College District Surgical Technology Program graduate will join the renowned Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., where she will assist in orthopedic and plastic surgeries that help restore patients’ mobility and transform lives.

“One thing about ortho that I like is that you see your results immediately,” Smith said. “If your patient gets a knee replaced, you know it’s going to make an instant impact that you don’t always see in other fields. I like that immediate gratification of helping someone.”

Originally from Flower Mound, Smith discovered her passion for the operating room as a high school student in a health science program. There, in the final days before the COVID-19 pandemic, she watched a mastectomy with reconstruction and met a surgical technologist who explained the procedure.

“The surgical tech let me see what was going on and actually taught me things,” Smith recalled. “That moment really stuck with me.”

Smith earned her Bachelor of Science in biomedical sciences at Texas A&M University, co-enrolling in Blinn’s Surgical Technology Program in her final undergraduate year. Based at the RELLIS Academic Alliance at Texas A&M-RELLIS in Bryan, the program’s state-of-the-art simulation labs and hands-on clinical training gave Smith the opportunity to gain real-world experience and confirm her career path.

“I wanted to go into either a surgical physician’s assistant school or become a surgical first assistant,” Smith said. “That’s still something I want to do, but I thought being a surgical technologist would give me a good steppingstone because I didn’t want to spend all of that time and money for more school if I wasn’t sure. Thankfully, I love it.”

Surgical technologists are essential members of the operating room team, supporting surgeons, anesthesiologists, and nurses while maintaining a safe, efficient surgical environment. Blinn students gain clinical experience at Baylor Scott & White facilities-College Station and Brenham, CHI St. Joseph Health facilities-Bryan and College Station, Park Hudson Surgery Center-Bryan, and The Physicians Centre Hospital-Bryan, completing more than 120 surgical cases across multiple specialties.

“Our director, Linda Hill, is amazing. She knows the industry, knows everyone, and she’s very knowledgeable. I’ve gotten to experience a lot of variation in surgeries from laparoscopic cases to orthopedic cases. I even did a couple of open-heart procedures,” Smith said. “We do one semester of classroom training and then we hit the ground running with our clinicals and it’s go, go, go. I like that every day is different and you’re always going to learn something new.”

Blinn’s in-depth curriculum helped Smith find her passion for orthopedic surgery.

“Ortho is hard to learn, but once you learn it, it’s very methodical,” Smith said. “It just kind of clicks in my brain more than other specialties and I’ve also really liked the people who work in ortho too.”

At the Mayo Clinic, Smith will be working in a Level I trauma center known for its cutting-edge procedures and medical innovation.

“The Mayo Clinic is one of the top hospitals in the country, so I’ll get to see a lot of interesting cases,” Smith said. “They’re constantly doing groundbreaking work, and I’m really excited to continue learning from the professionals there and take my knowledge with me wherever I go next.”

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median wage for surgical assistants and technologists is $62,480 per year and Texas has the nation’s second highest demand for surgical technologists.

Surgical technologists often are employed at hospitals but can work in any setting that conducts surgical procedures, including doctor’s offices, day surgery facilities, and dental offices. Blinn’s Surgical Technology Program also can provide a launching pad to other healthcare careers.