Maria Torres is Winner of National Contest

Maria is an outstanding Health CareeRx Academy participant.

For the past 11 months, Mariah has been very busy working towards accomplishing her goals. She was initially referred to Health CareeRx Academy from CareeRx Resources, Inc., as she was actively taking computer training at the American Job Center in Bridgeport. In December 2013, Maria enrolled into the Academy and successfully began her Foundation Skills Workshop week. She utilized a Math Tutor at CRI to build up her math scores in preparation for entering our first Contextualized Learning cohort at Housatonic Community College and after completion moved onto her C.N.A. course work at HCC. Maria showed a desire for additional Occupational Skills training that would layer her C.N.A. credential so the Academy career-laddered her into the P.C.T. program at HCC, where she is currently enrolled and scheduled to graduate in December. 

Outside of her academic coursework, Maria has successfully completed coaching sessions with Stamford Clinical Services and has overcome many life barriers to be where she is today. Additionally, Maria is a Business Access achiever and has worked very hard since starting the program in September. As a Business Access achiever she has logged in over 86 hours of virtual online learning and completed 53 courses to date! We will be featuring her client dashboard at the Annual Meeting during my Educational Emerging Models of Education session at HPOG’s upcoming Annual Meeting.

Maria recently responded to some questions regarding her success and experience here at HCC. 

1. What brought you to HCC? HCC was convenient, close to home and I had been a student here in my early 20's. I loved the environment and the instructors. 
2. Tell me about what programs you've completed. I've completed the CNA and PCT programs with some contextualized learning courses such as Human Anatomy and Biology, Successful Study Strategies for Healthcare students and Medical Terminology. 
3. What obstacles did you have while trying to complete the programs? The obstacles I had to overcome/deal with while I was completing my programs were my own health because I am a Lupus patient and have had to miss classes because of Lupus flare ups and hospital visits. I also had issues with transportation but it was covered for me by the HealthCareeRx Academy. 
4. What did you value most about attending HCC? The education, advice and connections I've made at HCC are what I valued most from my time at HCC.