About

Skills That Are Always In Demand

Joyce St. John made a big decision when she enrolled at National College back in the mid-1990’s. Or, you might say, her husband did.

“He actually called and made the appointment,” for her admissions visit to the Bristol Campus, Joyce admits. But she is thankful he did, because it changed her life. Since she enrolled, she has found the world of business and computers more to her liking than the family carpet and rug cleaning business she had been working in. ”I like this better,” Joyce says of her job for the past eight years as an office manager for Med-One, an urgent care clinic in Bristol. “That’s the reason I wanted to go back [to school] and get some training.”

While working on her associate degree in business administration–management and computer applications, Joyce was employed at the Bristol Campus, first as a work-study, and upon graduation, as administrative assistant. Later, she worked for a mortgage company as a loan processor, and then as an office manager in a floral shop. “Then a friend of mine that graduated [from National] had mentioned there was an opening in the front office here,” Joyce explains. “So I interviewed and I got the job.”

“I enjoy it all, but I’m a person that likes to stay busy, and this is a busy job,” she says. “We average anywhere from 50 to…we have gone as high as 120-some patients in a day.”

It wasn’t easy for Joyce to make a career switch. It had been nearly 20 years, she admits, since she had been in school when she started her college education. She had teenage children at home, and worked part-time while she was going to school. But the support of her husband and family helped her to not only persevere, but achieve a perfect 4.0 GPA. “Mama made better grades,” than the children, she says with a chuckle.

“I will say…the doctors are very impressed with [National’s] students”

Joyce also finds herself surrounded by National College graduates and students at Med-One. Besides two other full time employees who are National graduates, the clinic sees a steady parade of medical assisting students on their externships. “I will say…the doctors are very impressed with [National’s] students,” Joyce says. Credit for that success goes to dedicated faculty like Sheri Jessee, Director of Healthcare Education at the Bristol Campus, or Accounting Chair Latika Roy, whom Joyce remembers as one of her own favorite instructors.

Joyce has found her niche as an office manager with skills that will never be out of demand. “It’s the computer I like the most, it makes your work easier,” she explains. Thanks to her National degree, Joyce has shown that jobs may come and go, but a career can be yours for a lifetime