Ashley already knew her way around patient care. As a Certified Medical Assistant, she’d built a career helping people on some of their hardest days. But she wanted to go further, do more, and earn more, and that meant going back to school.
She enrolled in the nursing program at Columbia College, Lake of the Ozarks. She earned her Associate in Nursing, then passed her licensure exam to become a Registered Nurse soon after. Today, Ashley works full-time at Lake Regional Health System, and she earns nearly $12 more per hour than she did as a CMA.
That leap didn’t happen alone. Ashley’s education was supported through the WIOA Adult program, the EDA Good Jobs Challenge Grant, and Healthy Blue, three programs that helped clear the financial and logistical hurdles that keep so many working adults from finishing a degree. Together, they turned a goal into a nursing license and a full-time career.
For Ashley, the return on that investment shows up in every paycheck and every shift. She’s doing the work she set out to do, at the level she wanted to do it, right in her own community in Pulaski County.
Stories like Ashley’s are what workforce programs are built for: someone with drive and a clear goal, meeting the right support at the right time. She did the hard part. The programs helped make it possible.
The Workforce Link Podcast offers forward thinking conversations for the workforce, linking employers and job seekers to a brighter tomorrow. Check out the details here…