{"id":27821,"date":"2018-05-17T19:07:39","date_gmt":"2018-05-17T23:07:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom2\/2018\/05\/17\/from-a-self-proclaimed-hot-disaster-to-high-honors-graduate\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T16:21:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T20:21:29","slug":"from-a-self-proclaimed-hot-disaster-to-high-honors-graduate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2018\/05\/17\/from-a-self-proclaimed-hot-disaster-to-high-honors-graduate\/","title":{"rendered":"From a Self-Proclaimed \u201cHot Disaster\u201d to High Honors Graduate"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Sabrina Hamel, Respiratory Care, ’18,<\/p><\/div>\n

Five years after she dropped out of Methuen High School, Sabrina Hamel will celebrate her associate degree in respiratory therapy<\/a> from Northern Essex Community College\u2014which she earned with high honors\u2014and a new job at Boston\u2019s Children\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n

Hamel doesn\u2019t regret her decision to drop out of high school or her first attempt at college when her below passing grades got her dropped from financial aid.<\/p>\n

Calling herself a \u201chot disaster\u201d at the time, the 23-year old says \u201cI had to fail twice.\u00a0 If I didn\u2019t, I wouldn\u2019t be where I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

In high school, teachers told Hamel \u201cYou have so much potential\u201d but a series of personal issues kept her out of school, and the absences stood between her and graduation.<\/p>\n

Three weeks after dropping out, she had her GED and that fall she enrolled at Northern Essex as a music major, soon finding \u201cI wasn\u2019t quite ready to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a year spent working, she visited the Advising Center at Northern Essex, determined to get her education back on track.<\/p>\n

She shared her love of science classes and her desire to work with children and babies, and her advisors directed her toward health care, suggesting she begin by taking the pre-requisite courses.<\/p>\n

Nursing was her first choice, but her boyfriend\u2019s mother and brother, both respiratory therapists and graduates of Northern Essex, talked her into giving their field a chance.<\/p>\n

She calls that \u201cThe best decision I\u2019ve made in my entire life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamel credits Professor Jennifer Jackson-Stevens and the Respiratory Care Program at Northern Essex with helping her find meaning and direction in her life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey accepted me\u2026took me in and molded me into someone who is capable of savings babies and children.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamel hopes her story is an inspiration to others.\u00a0 \u201cPeople need to know that it\u2019s okay to mess up,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Hamel will be awarded her degree at Northern Essex\u2019s Commencement Exercises<\/a> on May 19, and she will start her full time job at Children\u2019s Hospital in July.\u00a0 In January, when she\u2019s eligible for tuition reimbursement, she plans to continue on for a bachelor\u2019s in public health from Southern New Hampshire University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Five years after she dropped out of Methuen High School, Sabrina Hamel will celebrate her associate degree in respiratory therapy from Northern Essex Community College\u2014which she earned with high honors\u2014and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":27823,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFrom a Self-Proclaimed \u201cHot Disaster\u201d to High Honors Graduate - NECC News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2018\/05\/17\/from-a-self-proclaimed-hot-disaster-to-high-honors-graduate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"From a Self-Proclaimed \u201cHot Disaster\u201d to High Honors Graduate - 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