Changing Lives Through Opportunity: The Orthopedic Clinic and The Chiles Academy Partnership

Shannon Stewartson, CEO; Mattie Waybright, MA; and Jason Carey, HR

Student internship program leads to full-time career, highlighting a shared commitment to second chances and workforce development.

DAYTONA BEACH, FL, UNITED STATES, April 28, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Orthopedic Clinic is proud to highlight its ongoing partnership with The Chiles Academy, a relationship focused on mentorship, education, and creating meaningful career pathways for students.

Through this collaboration, students are provided hands-on internship opportunities that foster both personal growth and professional development in a real-world healthcare setting.

This partnership recently celebrated a meaningful milestone with the hiring of Mattie Waybright as a full-time Medical Assistant in Dr. Eric Villarreal’s clinic. Mattie, a Chiles Academy student for over two years, completed her second internship with The Orthopedic Clinic before officially joining the team.

Mattie’s journey is one of resilience and determination. After facing significant personal challenges at a young age, including becoming a parent as a teenager, she found herself at risk of leaving school permanently. With the encouragement of mentors and the support of the Chiles Academy, Mattie was given a second chance, leading to her ultimately graduating early during Thanksgiving break of 2025.

Through her time at Chiles Academy, Mattie discovered a supportive environment where she felt understood, encouraged, and motivated to stay on track. Her experience at The Orthopedic Clinic further solidified her passion for healthcare and her long-term goal of becoming a Physician Assistant one day.

“𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒎 𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓,” said Shannon Stewartson, Chief Executive Officer of The Orthopedic Clinic. “𝑴𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒆’𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕, 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒆𝒅.”

Jason Carey, HR Manager, added, “𝑺𝒆𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑴𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒘 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒂 𝒗𝒂𝒍𝒖𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒅𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒘𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒇𝒐𝒓, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆’𝒓𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒓 𝒋𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒚.”

𝐀 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞
The Chiles Academy is dedicated to helping teen parents stay in school, graduate, and build a stable future for themselves and their children. Through its partnership with The Orthopedic Clinic, students are given the opportunity to take the next step beyond graduation through hands-on internships in a real clinical setting.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐍𝐞𝐱𝐭
The Clinic plans to deepen student engagement by introducing mentorship from team members whose personal journeys reflect the resilience and determination seen in many Chiles Academy students, including Revenue Cycle Manager Allison Abrusci, who became a mother as a teenager and went on to build a successful career in healthcare. By creating structured pathways from education to employment, both organizations aim to empower students to build stable, fulfilling futures.

𝐐𝐮𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐞 𝐖𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭:
"𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐀𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐲 𝐠𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩. 𝑴𝒊𝒔𝒔 𝑭𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒔𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒍 𝒎𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆. 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝑰 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒅𝒐 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒌𝒊𝒅𝒔. 𝑩𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑶𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒄 𝑪𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒄 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰’𝒎 𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒓. 𝑰’𝒎 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒇𝒂𝒓 𝑰’𝒗𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈…𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒚 𝒌𝒊𝒅𝒔."

𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐎𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐜
Serving the Daytona Beach region for decades, The Orthopedic Clinic provides comprehensive orthopedic, sports medicine, and pain management care. With a strong commitment to community engagement and workforce development, the Clinic partners with local organizations to create opportunities that extend beyond healthcare and into meaningful life change.

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬:
For further information on The Orthopedic Clinic or to be seen, please visit https://orthotoc.com/ or call (386) 255-4596.

𝐌𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐭:
Please contact Hannah Crawford, Marketing & Patient Experience Manager at hcrawford@orthotoc.com or (386) 226-1329.

Hannah Crawford
The Orthopedic Clinic
+1 386-218-9643
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