Career Step Big 10

Congratulations to the scholarship winners for Career Step's Medical Transcription Training Program!

	Corrie Looney Corrie, 37, is a stay-at-home mom of three children. “I am outgoing and very passionate about everything I believe in,” she says. “I love learning anything new and the challenge it affords me to discover new things and, in so doing, discover more about myself.”
	Constance Stumm Constance, 54, has owned her own pressed flower business for the past seven years. “I am a pressed flower artist, growing and pressing my own flowers,” she says. Recently her husband was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma, a rare liver cancer, and was given less than six months to live. “Needless to say our lives have been overturned,” Constance says. “I have strong secretarial and language skills and I need to find a job where I can train at home and eventually work from home so that I can be close to my husband. I realize the course takes approximately 13 months to complete, but I am hopeful that my husband will be able to witness my accomplishment and perhaps ease his worries about my future.”
	Deborah Baker-Anastos Deborah is a substitute teacher who has two children, a 14-year-old daughter and an 11-year-old son. She is divorced. “My daughter has qualified for two college preparatory programs and is already discussing with me her college plans,” Deborah says. “My son is ‘special needs’ and is also very smart. He is very high functioning and also plans to go to college. I have devoted my life to my children and their education.”
	Joanne Byron This mother of two says she is “determined to improve my family's financial situation. I graduated college with an associate degree in culinary arts, but I injured my knee and cannot stand for long periods of time. I began working with computers and became supervisor of my department.”
	Mindy Ralston Mindy, 30, is an administrative assistant at church in Clear Lake, Iowa, where she and her husband also volunteer as the youth ministers. They have one daughter, Ali, 9. “We have recently decided that we would like to have another child, so we are working towards that goal,” Mindy says. “My husband is a self-employed contractor, but with the economy the way it is, things have slowed down for him considerably.”
	Phyllis Perkins Phyllis has four children who are in college and graduate school. She says she stopped her own medical career years ago at her husband’s request. They then divorced. “I need to get back into the work force,” she says.
	Mary Jane Nuwer Mary Jane has spent 20 years as an administrative assistant. In 2006, she enrolled in an 60-hour medical transcription course that taught basic terminology and dictation skills, but was not accredited. “I am self-motivated, detailed orientated, and work well independently. My keyboarding speed is 75-cpm and I posses excellent computer skills.”
	Eileen Hierholz Eileen, 49, has a son, 23 and a daughter, 18. Married 27 years, she stayed home exclusively to raise her kids “to be the best they could be.” She’s now ready to get to work.
	Robin Rogers Robin, 43, has three boys, 17, 12 & 12. A single mom with over 25 years of experience in business admin, her greatest achievement is the publishing of her book ROCK BOTTOM in 2005. She trained horses as a young girl and entered the workforce at the age of 14 thanks to a strong work ethic instilled by her parents. Her goal is to work from home and control her own future in this ever changing economy.
	Roxanne Nelson Over the past 14 years, 50-year-old Roxanne has opened and operated six restaurants, but now finds herself back in the workplace. “I am a very hardworking individual who enjoys working,” she says. “I am able to multi-task and can work independently. I am a quick study and have no problem learning new programs and techniques.”

We checked in with our Big 10 and here's what some of them had to say about the program:

"I am loving this course. So far everything is going well. I am currently in the Technology and the Medical Professional section. I really like the Study Planner feature. It allowed me to determine the amount of time I need to commit to the course weekly in order to finish within my schedule. I am hoping to finish by the end of August which is when school starts. The great thing about the way this course is setup is if I don't finish by August, I can continue until I do."
-Deborah Baker-Anastos

"All is going well with me so far. Most of the modules I finished in less than the amount of time they said the average student would take to get through it. However, for some reason it's taken about double the time for Pathophysiology. It's a lot of information to stuff into my brain! But I'm enjoying the challenge. I'm crossing my fingers hoping to get through the program by the end of summer. My husband has really jumped in to help me around the house, which is great. He's even learned how to run the dishwasher! So that's why he never did dishes before.....Thank you again for providing this opportunity. It's still hard to believe that I won the scholarship. I'm very excited about this new stage of my life."
-Mindy Ralston

"I am totally enjoying the course. It is definitely more challenging than I expected, but that is a good thing. I have created an extensive word list as a result of weighing all the information on the CS forums. This is working great for me, and helping me to retain more of what I'm learning. It also allows me, I think, to advance through the modules a little quicker than if I did not have it. I make a point to attend all the moderated chat forums that CS provides. Besides all the extensive information and advice, it gives me a feeling of being in an actual classroom with real people! I spend about 25 hours per week in the class. Career Step provides so many ways to keep motivated, and one of them is by providing a Study Planner that calculates a predicted graduation date based on your hours of study. This is very interesting and challenging work. It is reinforcing to me the quality of education I am receiving and encouraging me that I will be successful! Thanks again for this awesome gift.”
-Eileen Hierholz

"I just began Mastering Medical Language. I find it very enlightening since I pride myself a fair knowledge of language after having taken 4 years of Latin in high school and years of French into college. But there is so much that I didn’t know. I enjoy this module a great deal. The first module on the computer proved to be enlightening also. One of the problems I find myself in is that I feel the need to memorize all the terms."
-Connie Stumm

"I have to say, I'm impressed with the communication and support this school has to offer. This is such an amazing opportunity for myself and my family. I can't thank everyone enough!"
-Joanne Byron

"My life is currently getting busier and busier, but I am managing to do my work at night after the kids are in bed. I am enjoying getting back into the medical field and really testing how much I remember. I hope everyone else is doing well with the program and enjoying it as much as I am! I encourage everyone, that hasn't done so, to get the books (they allow you to make payments) they are a huge help to just use as a quicker reference than the computer, if nothing else. Once again I am honored and consider it a huge blessing to be given this opportunity."
-Corrie Looney

"The Career Step Program is an exceptional program. They are very thorough with forums, chat rooms forums, and technical support. The course is very detailed, and I feel this will give me the education to find a job when I complete the course. The students taking the course are positive about finding work and even the graduates add comments on how they are doing. I believe applying and winning this scholarship has been a blessing and I am truly grateful for everything Women For Hire and the employees of Career Step have done to help me succeed with this new career move."
-Mary Jane Nuwer