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Home » About MACC » Student Success

August 15, 2012

Quenna Kovar

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“MACC’s nursing program was difficult, but the instructors really care about the students. They told us, ‘We don’t want average people taking care of us, so we’re making sure you’re exceptional nurses.’ And we are!”

When Quenna Kovar awoke in the ICU after being life-flighted from a car wreck, it just so happened that her nurse was an MACC alum. In the haze of her pain, she remembers quite clearly being excited to watch the nurse caring for her injuries knowing that she would be starting the MACC Associate Degree Nursing Program in just a few months and that someday she would be returning the favor to her own patients. That was in 2007 and Quenna Kovar made good on her promise to return the favor. She is now a circulating nurse in the Operating Room at Boone Hospital and one of her main jobs is patient advocacy. She educates patients about their procedures, sits with them through out the surgery and cares for them post-op.

Quenna’s hugely rewarding career began with certified nurse assistant (CNA) classes she took in high school at the Columbia Career Center.

“I had an awesome nursing instructor at the Columbia Career Center that really made nursing real for me,” she said.

Using her CNA license, Quenna got a job at Boone Hospital as a nurse tech. She worked with nurses and learned what they did on a daily basis. Watching them administer meds and care for patients fueled her desire to continue her education.

Quenna chose Moberly Area Community College because she was an A+ student from Hickman High School. She basically earned her nursing degree for free through that scholarship. MACC was also close to home for her. She attended the Columbia location for her general education classes and then commuted to Moberly for the actual nursing program.

MACC’s Allied Health Programs are notoriously difficult. And Quenna’a experience was not unique.

“The curriculum was very difficult, but it made the transition from nurse tech to RN very easy. Over the course of the program, we took hundreds of difficult tests, however at the end of the program when we had to take the big NCLEX exam, it made it less stressful. And I passed on the first time,” Quenna explained.

“So if you’re excited about going to nursing school, it’s worth it. All of the hours and the tests and everything you put into it is definitely worth it when you’re sitting there with your patient, holding their hand telling them it will be okay, telling them what to expect in surgery and afterwards, and teaching them how to take care of themselves when they go home. The gratitude the patient and family gives you makes it all worth it,” said Quenna.

Quenna and many of her fellow MACC Nursing Program alums that work at Boone Hospital are in the process of earning their Bachelor’s of Nursing at area four-year institutions.

“The instructors in MACC’s Nursing Program really do care about the students. They told us, ‘We don’t want average people taking care of us, so we’re making sure you’re exceptional nurses.’ And we are!” commented Quenna.

quennaenvi
Learn more about our Associate Degree in Nursing

Article by marlenab / News & Stories, Student Success / alumni, Associate Degree in Nursing, graduation, Quenna Kovar, stories, student success

August 15, 2012

Tina Montgomery

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“My job is simply to restore my patients’ dignity. I give them independence, and in return they give me an exciting reason to come to work everyday.”

Tina Montgomery is a classic case of corporate downsizing being a blessing in disguise.

Tina earned her bachelors in physical education, but somehow ended up owning video stores and working in the banking industry instead.

At the age of 24, Tina watched her mother lose her battle with cancer. During the treatment process, she witnessed Occupational Therapists working with her mother to provide her with tools to give her dignity and a better quality of life. Tina was fascinated and forever changed by this experience.

After her mother’s death on March 18, 1986, she and her sister began a volunteer hospice program in her memory. The Fitzgibbon Mary Montgomery Hospice is still a non-profit hospice that is part of the Fitzgibbon Hospital in Marshall, MO today. It was one of the first hospice centers in the state of Missouri to receive Medicare certification in 1993 and is highly respected in the region.

Tina spent the next 17 years in banking working in nearly every position available. Unfortunately, she ended up a mortgage loan officer in 2009 when the housing bubble burst and was downsized rather quickly.

By that point, Tina was a breast cancer survivor herself, a single mom with a 11-year-old son and she decided it was time to quit daydreaming about being an Occupational Therapist and find a program to enter.

She found MACC’s program through the Missouri Health Professions Consortium on our website and eagerly began classes. Tina graduated with the Consortium’s first OTA class in 2010 and has been in heaven ever since. She is now changing lives and restoring dignity and quality of life everyday to the patients at Golden Living Rehab in Mexico, MO.

One of her special patients, Frank Kramer, 86, said, “Before Tina, I was a quadriplegic looking for a way to do myself in. I just wanted to die. She worked with me for hours a day and gave me many stern talks about how I could make it. Now I’m walking and moving just like the next guy.”

Tina is giving people a reason to live, and they are giving her the joy she has been longing to have everyday since 1986. Tina gives back to the OTA program every year, by speaking to prospective and current students, assisting MHPC with the interviewing process.

Tina
Learn more about our Occupational Therapy Assistant degree

Article by marlenab / News & Stories, Student Success / alumni, graduation, Occupational Therapy Assistant, stories, student success, Tina Montgomery

August 15, 2012

Erica Robuck

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“I had so many wonderful teachers growing up that it just seemed natural for me to jump into teaching, and MACC’s AAT program was a perfect start for me.”

Erica Robuck is not much taller than the first graders she teaches. In fact, she jokes that she won’t ever be able to teach grades much higher because all of the kids will tower over her. But really that’s okay, because when you watch Erica in action with her students, you quickly get the idea that she’s right where she’s supposed to be.

“I grew up in the Cairo area. I actually attended school in this building from kindergarten all the way up until twelfth grade. I was very involved in sports and all kinds of clubs and I had so many wonderful teachers that it just always felt right to me, they inspired me to want to be a teacher. Plus, I enjoy helping others and I enjoy children so it just felt natural for me to jump into teaching,” Erica explained.

So when it came time to leave the safe confines of the only school she’d ever know, Moberly Area Community College was an easy choice.

“I chose MACC as my first college mainly because of the A+ Program. I knew that I wanted to save as much money as possible going to school and MACC provided a way for me to do that. It was also close to home and had a good reputation, so it was the place for me,” explained Erica.

Since Erica already knew she was passionate about teaching, she immediately joined the Associate of Arts in Teaching degree program. The AAT program aligns curriculum with all Missouri colleges and allows students to enter a four-year college or university education department as a junior.

“Transferring from MACC to Central Methodist was easier than I expected. I was able to get in touch with an advisor from CMU and tell her what classes I was taking at MACC and through communicating back and forth we were able to get my schedules aligned and the transfer was just seamless.”

MACC gave Erica the start she needed to become a teacher. The first classes she took related to her field were at MACC. They prepared her for her four-year college and ultimately for teaching.

“Whether you choose a two or four-year college, you can get a quality education at both. The key is just being willing to put in the time and effort it takes to be successful. College is about focusing on what you want to do when you get out into the real world. So you need to make the best of that opportunity.”

ericaenvi
Learn more about our Associate of Arts in Teaching degree

Article by marlenab / News & Stories, Student Success / alumni, Associate of Arts, Erica Robuck, graduation, stories, student success

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