Courtney Webb, a 2013 graduate of Woburn High School, had thought about becoming a teacher, a dental hygienist, or maybe a nurse.

The 23-year old knew an office job wasn’t the right fit for her and that she liked science, but narrowing her choices wasn’t easy.

While working as a unit secretary at Winchester Hospital, she had the opportunity to observe the respiratory therapists, and she was intrigued.

Most health care providers stick to one area of the hospital, pediatrics, surgery, or the ICU, for example, but respiratory therapists have full range, treating all kinds of patients with heart and lung problems from infants to the elderly.

“Respiratory therapists play such a universal role,” says Webb.  “Before I worked in a hospital, I only knew about nursing.”

After shadowing a respiratory therapist, Webb realized “this is for me.”   She learned Northern Essex had an associate degree program, and, one month later, she was enrolled in the two-year program.

Respiratory therapists make a median salary of $58,670, and demand is strong.  Most students in the program get student jobs after less than a year, and Webb is no exception.  She’s currently working 16 to 24 hours a week at Lawrence General Hospital while finishing her second year in the program.

Webb will take her licensing boards soon after she graduates this May, and her goal is to land a job at a Boston hospital.  She plans to continue her education and is looking at the bachelor’s in health science, which Regis College offers in a hybrid format on Northern Essex’s Lawrence Campus.

An average student in high school, Webb is now taking her education seriously.  “When you’re doing something you love, you push yourself to be the best you can.”

Opportunities for employment in the health care industry are at an all-time high. Northern Essex offers two dozen certificates and associate degrees in health care.

To learn more, visit the website, necc.mass.edu, or contact enrollment services, admissions@necc.mass.edu or 978 556-3700.

Each time Hawaii resident Shaun Voss ‘13 boards a plane, prepared for his next inter-island medical evacuation mission, it is with the confidence that Northern Essex Community College instilled in him long ago.

Once a student in NECC’s nursing program, Voss has, over the span of just one decade, earned nearly ten certifications and three degrees, becoming a registered nurse and taking his knowledge from one coast to another all the while. But his journey to success did not come so easily.

Back in 2008 Voss was a high school graduate with limited options. Amid the height of the economic recession, his working class family, living in Rochester, NH, existed without the means to provide for higher education or to assist him in obtaining a viable career. Still – Voss kept college at the forefront of his mind.

“I did not have a lot of resources or experience on how to obtain a higher education,” he says, “but I always knew I was destined to do so.”

It was while working as a nursing assistant and part-time EMT that he found his passion – and his way forward. Scouring the internet for affordable healthcare degrees, he learned about Northern Essex’s top-ranking nursing program through a Google search and was immediately sold.

“[NECC] had everything I needed in one location. The advisers gave me the guidance I needed to get started, making it a smooth experience.”

By 2010, Voss had completed his pre-requisite nursing courses and was accepted into NECC’s Licensed Practical Nursing (LPN) certificate program. Despite some bumps in the road along the way, including difficulty balancing a full-time course load with a full-time night job, Voss made it through to graduation, eventually pursuing and receiving his associate of science degree in nursing and obtaining registered nursing (RN) status. He credits the many faculty members and advisers who encouraged him to continue pushing forward for making his dreams possible.

“This was truly the most superior program I have encountered to date,” he says. “It was challenging, it was exhausting, but the expectations of excellence from the faculty kept us motivated to perform well.”

His educational pursuits did not end here, he says. Following his graduation from NECC in 2013, Voss obtained an acute care inpatient hospital job at St. Peter’s Hospital in Albany, NY and received the qualifications needed to work in an ER setting, all while earning his bachelor’s degree in nursing from Granite State College and obtaining clinical-based certifications in pediatric advanced life support, trauma care nursing, emergency room nursing, neonatal resuscitation, and more.

And now, more eager than ever to expand his knowledge and apply it to those in need, Voss has taken his talents all the way to Honolulu, Hawaii, where he divides his time between Queen’s Medical Center: West Oahu and medical evacuation fixed-wing aircraft flights. But even soaring far above the land, he does not lose sight of where he first took off.

“I’ve been extremely fortunate to have had the experiences I have been given in my relatively short career,” he says. “And I’m proud to say it all started with Northern Essex Community College.”

Northern Essex offers associate degrees in Nursing (ADN) and Nursing Advanced Placement: LPN to ADN, in addition to a variety of health care degrees and certificates that prepare students for work in the field. For a complete list of offerings, please visit NECC’s health programs page.

Ryan McAuliffe, a Northern Essex Community College alumnus turned minor league baseball player, is utterly effusive when he talks about the two years he spent as an NECC Knight.

“Coming to Northern Essex was absolutely the best decision I have ever made,” he said. “Personally, financially, and athletically the best decision hands down.”

McAuliffe was a right-handed pitcher fresh out of North Reading High School when he enrolled at Northern Essex at the urging of NECC baseball coach Jeff Mejia. With a dose of humility, McAuliffe said he was “a pretty good pitcher…nothing special”. Although his record would state otherwise. His junior year, his team won the state championship under Frank Carey, the state’s winningest high school baseball coach.

As strong as McAuliffe was on the field, and although he never missed a day of school, his grades weren’t impressive. Thus, his college prospects were slim. With encouragement from Mejia, who also co-founded the Team Boston Academy, where McAuliffe played elite baseball, he enrolled at Northern Essex and brought a few of his closest friends with him.

“I was just a tall, lanky…scrawny kid when I started here,” he said. “I got bigger, and

smarter. I increased my velocity, I understood the game better, and I saved thousands of dollars all while earning an associate degree with some of my closest friends.”

When McAuliffe was younger, he often dreamed of playing Division 1 baseball, but had no direction. It turns out; Northern Essex was the road map he needed. One of the many benefits of attending a community college or junior college or “JuCo” as McAuliffe said it’s called, is that you play a lot of baseball. That translated into good baseball, which got him noticed by D1 Schools including St. John’s University in New York.

One of the many rules of D1 teams is that transfer students must transfer in with an associate degree and hold at least a 3.0 GPA. For MCauliffe the academic heat was on. While balancing school, baseball, and three part-time jobs, McAuliffe quickly became a master of time management. He also took full advantage of the tutoring centers and was a familiar face with the NECC librarians.

His efforts earned him a scholarship to St. John’s. He graduated from NECC in 2015 with an associate degree in general studies. He graduated from St. John’s in 2017 with a Bachelor of Science in Sport Management. He signed with the New York Mets organization just a few months later. The 23-year-old North Reading resident played on the organization’s minor league team and has been on the disabled list since May when he was struck in the leg by an errant baseball.

As a community college graduate, McAuliffe found he wasn’t the exception, but rather the norm.

“Every D1 roster had six or seven guys from JuCo,” he said. “Coaches love players from two-year colleges because they have grit and the desire to play and get better.”

“Northern Essex was everything,” he said. “I would come back here in a second if I had to relive it.”

Northern Essex offers degrees in general studies as well as general studies: individualized options.

NECC is enrolling now for the spring semester, which starts January 23.  To learn more, visit the website  or contact enrollment services, admissions@necc.mass.edu or 978 556-3700.