"Hello world!" is what my new granddaughter may have said as she was born on the evening of October 28th. What a beautiful little girl and being that the kids wanted to be surprised, just made it so much nicer. Surprises are nice as I mentioned before. They were both thrilled and I just got back from Virgina visiting them, meeting my new granddaughter and helping with all the daily routines that occur when a new baby arrives. I babysat while my son and his wife went out on a Date Night. They had fun going out and I enjoyed the grandchildren. There is nothing as wonderful as rocking two little ones to sleep and watching them drift off for the night. I was flying home to Michigan and said to myself at some point, "how in the world did I raise four by myself?" The answer is, I did and I feel I must have had the one above help guide me through it all.
I felt the same way when I went back to school to get my degree from Granite State College. I got through it also and have great memories of both accomplishments. Life is too short to wonder how, why, should I or can I even achieve a goal that looks so hard or so far from reach. I am a firm believer that if you want to do something bad enough, you can do it. It will have challenges but with faith, hope and the college's resources it is all possible.
I could not believe that the college was offering a Bachelors in Health Care Administration or BS in Health Care Management. These are two fields that are highly sought out employment opportunities with great potential for placement. So if you are sitting, reading my blog and wondering too how I did it? I did and you can too.
For the past several months I have been touring New Hampshire with a colleague promoting Granite State College’s new Bachelor of Science in Health Care Management. This degree program offers courses in health care administration, policy, emerging trends, fiscal management, and health information systems.
The specialized skills you will acquire from this degree will prepare you to coordinate technology, people and resources. Job opportunities exist in a number of health related settings such as hospitals, nursing homes, health care agencies, non-profits, non-governmental agencies such as the Red Cross, and medical practices. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, ten of the 20 fastest growing occupations are health care related. Health care will also generate 3.2 million new wage and salary jobs before 2018, more than any other industry, largely in response to rapid growth in the elderly population. http://www.bls.gov/oco/cg/cgs035.htm
We have visited Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Catholic Medical Center, New London Hospital, The VT/NH annual conferences for Physical Therapists, Respiratory Therapists and Occupational Therapists and several of the NH Community Colleges. It’s great to be able to go where potential students are and answer their questions, provide materials, and arrange appointments. In addition, at every event, we’ve had GSC alumni stop by to say hello and let us know how their degree has impacted their lives and career opportunities.
If you already have college credit, let us evaluate your transcripts as you may qualify for the “Fast Track” degree completion option and earn your bachelor’s degree online in as little as 18 months! Visit us online at www.granite.edu or call us toll free at 1-888-228-3000 for more information or to get started today!
The inspiring story below is that of John, another ALA Scholarship Recpient for 2011. John is just one more example of the unique and diverse student population you will find within the classrooms or on the blackboards of
Granite State College.
My educational journey has encompassed self-learning for most of my life after high-school. My father passed away when I was in seventh-grade and I was a C+ student in a Catholic High School in Lawrence, MA. I began college in Maine intending to study Marine Biology but being a mediocre student I needed student loans to cover all of my expected expenses. I dropped out several weeks after the start for fear of mounting student loan debt. At eighteen I entered the workforce as a high-school graduate, married my wife in 1981 and began a family in 1983. As expected my job choices were very limited but I held a desire to enter the technology field. After much research I chose Sylvania Technical School and entered the Telecommunications Electronics program using student loans once again, but these were limited and controllable. Our first daughter, Bethany, was born with a heart defect and passed away after heart surgery at 7-days old. Our second daughter, Noelle, was born just over a year later in 1984 but was diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy at 1-year. Her care was a significant part of our existence and it took a huge effort on my part to attend Sylvania Tech three days per week at night after my job to attend classes in addition to sacrificing that time away from my family, but it was for their benefit that I was educating myself to better position me for employment that provided a living wage and benefits that we so dearly needed for Noelle’s care. Just before I graduated in 1988 with a diploma I interviewed for an Information Technology position at Raytheon and because of the reputation of Sylvania Tech and my grades I was hired as a Data Communications Field Tech.
Wentworth Institute of Technology purchased Sylvania Technical School before I completed my program so my diploma bore the Wentworth name. Because of this relationship Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston offered graduates of Sylvania/Wentworth Tech advance standing entry into an A.A.S. in Electronic Technology degree program. Raytheon’s tuition reimbursement benefits were significant enough to allow me to attend one course per semester at their Boston campus and continue my career college training. It took me five years from 1992 till 1997 to complete my associate degree. Five years of time and travel into Boston and precious time away from my family. Nights and weekends I worked at our kitchen table on study and research while my family patiently gave me the time I needed for my studies. My wife supported my endeavor by taking on additional care responsibilities for our daughter. I wanted to complete my associate degree so that I could advance my career, become a better provider, and show my growing daughter that education is important and is a lifelong endeavor. Noelle passed away on the second-to-last day of a wish trip to Disney on May 19, 1996. My life was shaken for months after that event. I did not attend the spring or summer semesters that year but eventually wanted to complete that degree for my daughter. Two more semesters and I was finally able to dedicate my degree to Noelle during graduation on May 18, 1997, one day short of the first anniversary of her death.
Afterward I honestly didn’t have the drive to continue my education at Wentworth. Like many parents who have lost children I grieved by immersing myself in my work. I continued to attend annual technical training to hone my information technology skill-sets which made me a more valuable employee but every year that passed I still thought about completing my degree. After graduating Wentworth I worked with a recruiter from Boston in a job search. He informed me that he would not be able to even get me into some corporate doors for interviews without having at least a bachelor’s degree. Fortunately after interviewing at Lahey Clinic Medical Center they valued my technical skills more than my education and hired me as a Data Communications Engineer. Each year that followed I have given consideration to completing my adult college degree but talked myself out of it. Each year I thought, “if I had only begun last year I would almost be done”. Well after a close scrutiny and self-assessment a couple of years ago about my past, present, and future life and career I decided to take that first step to completing my B.S. I realized that as I grow older I am handicapped from further career growth without completing an adult college degree, B.S. After almost twenty-five years working in technical positions in the field of information technology I find myself desiring to move into a leadership/management position within my current field of healthcare IT.
I began the next iteration of my education journey in the spring of 2009 with Granite State College. I discovered that the program for Applied Studies: Allied Health Services was tailor made to my career. I have almost twenty-five years of technical experience but I needed to round out my business skills that are so valued in industry. This B.S. will give me the necessary business skills with a slant toward the healthcare field that I currently work in, providing a targeted learning environment for me. I began this degree program intending to provide myself and my wife “career insurance” to update and round out my skills, make me a more valuable employee and insure my future ability to provide a home and life for the both of us. That goal has morphed over the course of the past two years, sparking my interest in pursuing an advanced degree after I complete my B.S. this spring at GSC. Plymouth State offers a M.B.A. in Healthcare Administration, an ideal advanced degree for my career plans to remain in healthcare.
After spending over a decade caring for our daughter, Noelle, at home and in Boston Children’s Hospital I would never have imagined that I would be working in the healthcare field yet here I am. My education has been a struggle of work/life/family/financial balance yet we have accomplished much with the time we have had together. I dedicated my A.A.S. to my daughter, Noelle. I plan to dedicate my pending B.S. to my loving wife, Kathy, for her patient support during these past two years and God willing I will dedicate my future M.B.A. to everyone who has supported me and my family. We have a great deal of loving family and friends in our lives, some have been treated at Lahey Clinic, my employer, and at least one had his life saved at Lahey with a liver/kidney transplant. I am proud to dedicate my career to such an institution and hope that my continued education will allow me opportunities to serve in greater capacities. I plan to achieve my B.S. before I am fifty-years old. I still have between fifteen and twenty career years in front of me; I plan to contribute further to the success of Lahey Clinic’s service to our community, friends, and family. I may have started as a mediocre high-school student but I believe with time and continued commitment to the goals I set and achieve for my benefit and also for my wife I am gaining back the opportunities I missed in my youth. Two more semesters and I will have achieved this next goal while I plan yet further!Please visit
John's website to learn more about his personal accomplishments.
Granite State College is pleased to share the details of our most recent degree. Offered locally, conveniently, and in the manner that best suits the needs of adult students, our Bachelors degree in
Health Care Management can complement coursework already taken, and will prepare students for a field that we know is growing and in need of talented administrators.
For those wanting a running start this coming Winter Term, there is one course and Instructor in particular that I would like to highlight.
Kim Gibson will be teaching MGMT 518,
Human Resource Administration, on Monday evenings at the GSC-Rochester campus. As you can see from her online bio, Kim is very talented, and I also know she is incredibly energetic. Kim will provide an essential perspective for students who will eventually work in the field of health care.
Related. . .I found information on this
website fascinating. . .
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