I attended Sanford Brown Institute to become a medical assistant. I studied hard and graduated with a GPA of 4.0, thinking I was going to get a job in the field after I finished my internship. Meanwhile, I found a job at Big Lots. Now I am attending school at STCC for the criminal justice program. The ups and downs of different careers and educational choices had a profound impact on my stress level both at home and in the workforce.
After graduating from Sanford Brown Institute, I received a certificate. Then I was assigned to do a full-time internship at the Holyoke Medical Office for five weeks. As I did my internship I worked like any other employee, except I did not receive a paycheck. When I finished my internship, there were no job openings for me to fill in.
At the time there were a decreased amount of jobs for medical assistants. Taking any job possible, Big Lots hired me as a recovery person the same day I filled out my application. As I worked there, I received a promotion to associate manager. Being a manager kept me from looking for a job in the medical field.
A few years later, my daughter’s babysitter decided to go to work herself. Without adequate childcare, I could no longer work the long hours at Big Lots so I was forced to quit and look for employment elsewhere. I applied at Home Depot and received a forklift operator position right away.
Unfortunately a year later, I had to quit my Home Depot position due to a huge layoff. Relatively quickly, I was able to secure a similar position at BJ’s Wholesale Club. But as my luck would have it, I was laid off after nine months from that job too. Now, I receive unemployment and I am a full time student at STCC.
My lack of employment also means a lack of money too so I had to apply for financial aid in order to pay for school. Since I was approved for financial aid, I decided to enroll into the...