{"id":28510,"date":"2017-08-04T13:04:00","date_gmt":"2017-08-04T17:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom2\/2017\/08\/04\/methuen-mom-makes-demanding-schedule-look-easy-2\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T17:10:46","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T21:10:46","slug":"methuen-mom-makes-demanding-schedule-look-easy-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/08\/04\/methuen-mom-makes-demanding-schedule-look-easy-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Methuen Mom Makes Demanding Schedule Look Easy"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_16178\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/media-old\/2017\/08\/Karina-Calderon.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16178\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-16178\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/media-old\/2017\/08\/Karina-Calderon-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-16178\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Karina Calderon is a business transfer major at Northern Essex.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The only thing more impressive than Karina Calderon\u2019s schedule is her persistence and work ethic.<\/p>\n<p>The 35-year-old Methuen woman credits Northern Essex with helping her strike a balance between school, work, and family. Karina, who graduated in May with an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.necc.mass.edu\/academics\/courses-programs\/areas\/business\/transfer\/\">Associate Degree in Business Transfer<\/a> with high honors, attended Northern Essex full time, and worked full time, all while raising her 18- and 10-year-old daughters as a single mom.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen something is important to you, you find a way,\u201d Karina says. \u201cWhen it is not, you find an excuse,\u201d she says. \u201cMy desire to provide a better life for my daughters is so strong that I will work as hard as I can to make it happen. For me it\u2019s about priorities and sacrifices; I know the hard work will pay off at the end.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Karina\u2019s life today is very different than the life she imagined growing up in the Dominican Republic where she studied architecture for three years. She immigrated to the United States at 21, moved in with a relative, and started planning a future here.<\/p>\n<p>She worked a number of jobs, enrolled in college, married, and raised her family. When the recession forced her to place her college education on hold, she found a coveted position with a local pharmacy and medical equipment company. Karina, by then a single mom, again enrolled in college; this time in NECC\u2019s Business Program. She took four courses each semester and when possible made her school projects relevant to her pharmacy job as a referral coordinator.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI knew it was time for me to earn a college degree,\u201d she says. \u201cI thought I should draw on my work experience and enroll in a business program.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Karina challenged herself and graduated with a 4.0 GPA. She begins taking business courses toward her bachelor\u2019s degree at Merrimack College this fall.<\/p>\n<p>To learn more about enrolling at Northern Essex, visit the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.necc.mass.edu\/\">website<\/a> or contact Enrollment Services at, <a href=\"mailto:admissions@necc.mass.edu\">admissions@necc.mass.edu <\/a>or 978-556-3700.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The only thing more impressive than Karina Calderon\u2019s schedule is her persistence and work ethic. The 35-year-old Methuen woman credits Northern Essex with helping her strike a balance between school, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"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-28510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Methuen Mom Makes Demanding Schedule Look Easy - 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\/2017\/08\/04\/methuen-mom-makes-demanding-schedule-look-easy-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Methuen Mom Makes Demanding Schedule Look Easy - NECC News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The only thing more impressive than Karina Calderon\u2019s schedule is her persistence and work ethic. The 35-year-old Methuen woman credits Northern Essex with helping her strike a balance between school, [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/08\/04\/methuen-mom-makes-demanding-schedule-look-easy-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NECC News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-08-04T17:04:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-14T21:10:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ellen Small-Davis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ellen Small-Davis\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/08\/04\/methuen-mom-makes-demanding-schedule-look-easy-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/08\/04\/methuen-mom-makes-demanding-schedule-look-easy-2\/\",\"name\":\"Methuen Mom Makes Demanding Schedule Look Easy - NECC News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-04T17:04:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-14T21:10:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/1482c1e2b61df3b1955e30860d9a769c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/08\/04\/methuen-mom-makes-demanding-schedule-look-easy-2\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/08\/04\/methuen-mom-makes-demanding-schedule-look-easy-2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/08\/04\/methuen-mom-makes-demanding-schedule-look-easy-2\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/home\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Methuen Mom Makes Demanding Schedule Look Easy\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/\",\"name\":\"NECC News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/1482c1e2b61df3b1955e30860d9a769c\",\"name\":\"Ellen Small-Davis\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/84a1f8e7e823ce7cabaa92618226fd3ba7a7bcee8e352db85821e8ea1e9c86fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/84a1f8e7e823ce7cabaa92618226fd3ba7a7bcee8e352db85821e8ea1e9c86fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ellen Small-Davis\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/author\/esmalldavis\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Methuen Mom Makes Demanding Schedule Look Easy - NECC News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/08\/04\/methuen-mom-makes-demanding-schedule-look-easy-2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Methuen Mom Makes Demanding Schedule Look Easy - NECC News","og_description":"The only thing more impressive than Karina Calderon\u2019s schedule is her persistence and work ethic. The 35-year-old Methuen woman credits Northern Essex with helping her strike a balance between school, [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/08\/04\/methuen-mom-makes-demanding-schedule-look-easy-2\/","og_site_name":"NECC News","article_published_time":"2017-08-04T17:04:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-05-14T21:10:46+00:00","author":"Ellen Small-Davis","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ellen Small-Davis","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/08\/04\/methuen-mom-makes-demanding-schedule-look-easy-2\/","url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/08\/04\/methuen-mom-makes-demanding-schedule-look-easy-2\/","name":"Methuen Mom Makes Demanding Schedule Look Easy - NECC News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-08-04T17:04:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-14T21:10:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/1482c1e2b61df3b1955e30860d9a769c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/08\/04\/methuen-mom-makes-demanding-schedule-look-easy-2\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/08\/04\/methuen-mom-makes-demanding-schedule-look-easy-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/08\/04\/methuen-mom-makes-demanding-schedule-look-easy-2\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/home\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Methuen Mom Makes Demanding Schedule Look Easy"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#website","url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/","name":"NECC News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/1482c1e2b61df3b1955e30860d9a769c","name":"Ellen Small-Davis","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/84a1f8e7e823ce7cabaa92618226fd3ba7a7bcee8e352db85821e8ea1e9c86fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/84a1f8e7e823ce7cabaa92618226fd3ba7a7bcee8e352db85821e8ea1e9c86fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ellen Small-Davis"},"url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/author\/esmalldavis\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28510"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28510\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28511,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28510\/revisions\/28511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}