{"id":29431,"date":"2015-03-09T15:45:06","date_gmt":"2015-03-09T19:45:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom2\/2015\/03\/09\/working-mom-finds-success-at-necc\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T16:13:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T20:13:35","slug":"working-mom-finds-success-at-necc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2015\/03\/09\/working-mom-finds-success-at-necc\/","title":{"rendered":"Working Mom Finds Success at NECC"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"NECC<\/a>

NECC Deaf Studies graduate Lina Garcia Kosko<\/p><\/div>\n

Lina Garcia Kosko credits her sister\u2019s deafness for leading her to Northern Essex\u2019s Deaf Studies Program<\/a> and Northern Essex for helping her find balance in her life.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt Northern Essex I learned to set priorities, have good communication, and understand my family\u2019s needs. These are the main components that made me a successful working mom and student.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 27 year-old will graduate in May with an associate degree in deaf studies and a great foundation to become an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter. The mother of two young girls, she currently holds a 3.9 GPA.<\/p>\n

Lina\u2019s story really began with her older sister who was born deaf into a household that knew little about raising a deaf child and knew less about the deaf community.<\/p>\n

Nearly 15 years ago, her sister and father traveled to the United States from Columbia so she could receive a cochlear implant. Once they were educated about the deaf community, they embraced her deafness. She refused the cochlear implant.<\/p>\n

Lina, her mother, and another sister followed them to the U.S. The entire family learned English. Her deaf sister also learned ASL.<\/p>\n

After high school, Lina earned a medical assistant associate degree. At work she was often asked to translate English to Spanish or vice versa. One day, a colleague noted that if she learned ASL she would be trilingual.<\/p>\n

With that as an incentive, she enrolled in NECC\u2019s Deaf Studies Program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the program,\u201d she says. \u201cIt is amazing to see how all the classes connect with my life and all that I have been through with my big sister. Even though I have had a sibling in the deaf culture, I never understood it. This helps me understand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following graduation, she will transfer into Framingham State University\u2019s bachelor degree program in interpreting. Her ideal job, she says, is to be a trilingual interpreter within the Spanish community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lina Garcia Kosko credits her sister\u2019s deafness for leading her to Northern Essex\u2019s Deaf Studies Program and Northern Essex for helping her find balance in her life. \u201cAt Northern Essex […]<\/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-29431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWorking Mom Finds Success at NECC - 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\/2015\/03\/09\/working-mom-finds-success-at-necc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Working Mom Finds Success at NECC - 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