{"id":28491,"date":"2017-07-20T19:21:10","date_gmt":"2017-07-20T23:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom2\/2017\/07\/20\/finding-the-perfect-career\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T17:10:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T21:10:24","slug":"finding-the-perfect-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/07\/20\/finding-the-perfect-career\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding the Perfect Career"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Andrew Milton, Respiratory Care<\/p><\/div>\n

For much of his 20s, Andrew Milton of Salisbury grappled with the same question that so many people his age struggle to answer: “What do I want to do with my life?” With admittedly few passions or goals, he drifted from an initial attempt at NECC’s general studies program, to working a job for a year, to enrollment at Liberty University. All these situations ended the same way: with his lack of interest causing him to move on.<\/p>\n

Things changed, however, when his older sister gave birth to a baby girl with dangerous health complications \u2014 which, among other things, required her to have a tracheotomy and be on a ventilator. While it was a harrowing experience, Andrew says he was moved by watching the respiratory therapists do everything they could to save his niece.<\/p>\n

“That’s when I realized these people have a career where you can actually make a difference,” he says. “I think that’s what made things finally click.”<\/p>\n

Andrew soon enrolled in Northern Essex\u2019s Associate Respiratory Care Program<\/a>, landing part-time work at Lowell General Hospital, while still a student. He happily discovered he had chosen the right career.<\/p>\n

He graduated with honors from the program in May and stepped right into a job at the hospital.\u00a0 He plans to pursue a bachelor\u2019s degree in respiratory care online while working.<\/p>\n

“It took me a little longer to find my path,” he says. “But now that I’ve found it, I’m only going onward and upward from here.”<\/p>\n

“It took me a little longer to find my path, but now that I’ve found it, I’m only going onward and upward from here.”<\/p>\n

For more information on the Respiratory Care Program at Northern Essex, contact Enrollment Services, admissions@necc.mass.edu<\/a> or 978-556-3700.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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