Samantha Kunz Voelker’s Story with ANU
For Samantha Kunz Voelker, a lifelong dedication to hard work has always been second nature. After years in retail, where her friendly and outgoing personality shined, she found herself longing for a career with more purpose and room to grow. When her husband was diagnosed with stage 4 heart failure, Samantha’s life changed dramatically. She became deeply involved in his care, learning everything she could about his condition and medical needs. That experience sparked a new passion for healthcare and inspired her to pursue her education at American National University, where she could build a meaningful career while continuing to care for her husband at home. Her dedication and determination recently earned her recognition as a Term Trailblazer for term 254!
At first, Samantha wasn’t entirely sure if a career in healthcare was the right path – she just knew how much she loved caring for her husband and children. As she began exploring schools online, one name immediately caught her eye. Her strong sense of patriotism drew her to American National University, and she decided to learn more. After filling out her information, she was soon contacted by a member of the admissions team, whose encouragement and guidance helped Samantha take the next step toward her new career journey.
“She made me want to go… she instantly made me feel like I was part of [ANU] already.”
Her education at ANU has given Samantha the confidence to improve the care she gives her husband, and to one day join the field of medical assisting. “It’s more than I ever thought,” she says, “being able to do school at home and work in my own comfort, I feel like I’m absorbing more. I don’t feel as intimidated.” Being online has given Samantha more freedom to learn in the comfort of her own home, whereas an in-person environment would cause her more stress. She explains that being in-person wouldn’t provide her the comfort to join discussions, whereas ANU’s Zoom sessions have given her that opportunity.
“I also think doing it online [with] the live lectures – the live lectures are actually my favorite part! Because the discussions – I get to hear everybody’s point of view about a topic about a certain topic so it makes me look at it in a way that I wouldn’t have looked at it before… I personally feel like I learn a lot more doing [classes] online than if I were doing it in a classroom.”
Samantha found the staff at ANU to be supportive of not only her journey but also her peers’ journeys at every turn. The Medical Assisting program chair, Carrie Rodriguez, is one of the first staff that made an impact on her. “She helps everybody. She’s just got a pure heart and she’s good in anything! If there’s ever any questions about anything – it could be something [that has] nothing to do with her – and she will help you in every way,” Samantha explains.
Additionally, Dr. Stephanie Denton has made a difference in her learning experience. “I absolutely love her!” Samantha begins, “she talks a lot, but she knows a lot about a lot. If she doesn’t know, she’s gonna look it up and tell you… She’s right there every bit of the way for everything that you’re doing. To me, that helped me learn a lot. She gave me a really good foundation to be able to be successful in [my] classes.” One of the highlights of ANU’s online experience is that it brings people from all over the country closer together. In Samantha’s time, she learned that Dr. Denton grew up not too far from where Samantha lives now. “After talking to her and getting to know her, I felt like I almost knew her on a personal level [because] we have a lot of friends in common, towns in common, and stories in common.”
Her future goals include working at the clinic where her husband goes for appointments. After that, she hopes to love working in the medical field as a medical assistant so she can possibly pursue a nursing degree later. “I have a friend who is a nurse practitioner – and in the town that I live in, there isn’t any clinics, so we would actually try to get a clinic here and have something at home,” she explains. “Already, doing all of this, I already know, I am far more passionate about it than I thought I would be. I thought I would just do it to hopefully to help others learn about LVAD and certain heart failure and challenges my husband has faced. I see myself continuing and continuing to grow my education in the healthcare field.”
Would she recommend ANU to others?
“I have actually already recommended ANU to a few people around here, that I’m trying to get them in,” she says. She has a friend who has been struggling with the financial aid portion of education. “The financial aid team at ANU was so easy to communicate with and helped handle things. That was my biggest thing I was worried about, and they made it so easy for me!”
Her advice to new students starting at ANU is: “Plan! Daily planners, plan, write out schedules… I am a mother to three stepchildren who live with me, I have a husband in end stage heart failure, I have nine rescue cats, I work a job, and I am a full time student. If you plan everything out, it will work just fine!”
