Persevering for Her Future:
Michaela Miller’s Time at ANU
Recent American National University graduate, Michaela Miller, knew that earning her education was not only something that would improve her life, but allow her to reach her goals. Family is a big motivator for Michaela to accomplish her goals. Her mother’s passing motivated her to get back on track with school. About a year into her school career, her father also passed. Despite these hardships, Michaela’s parents were the driving motivator to earn her education. And between working and taking care of her six children, Michaela needed a school that could work with not only her daily responsibilities but had that human touch. She chose ANU’s Medical Assisting associate degree program and found success immediately after graduation through a job offer!
Looking to better herself and the life of her children, Michaela chose ANU because she had begun in 2013 when ANU was still National College. She had to postpone her education then for one of her children but picked it back up in 2022 to achieve her dreams. “I decided to try medical assisting,” Michael says after disliking dental assisting, “and I honestly love it!” She loved how convenient that ANU was to her lifestyle. She could work around her work schedule and around the time she had at home with her children. She said, “the fact that I worked 7:30 to 4, [I was] able to have nighttime classes.”
When it came to her classes, Michaela appreciated that she could do her class work whenever she had the time.
“I was able to do my schoolwork when I had the free time to do it,” she says, “and it wasn’t so crammed to the point that I felt super overwhelmed.”
Michaela even failed a few classes between the death of her father and the birth of her twin children and took a term off to recollect herself. However, the flexibility of ANU and her spirit kept her going on the track to graduation. “Once I came back, I finished it and went straight through!” As for her instructors and professors, they all had one thing in common for Michaela: they cared. From the Medical Assisting dean, Laura Diggle, to her externship coordinator, Kimberly Amole, Michaela had people who wanted to see her succeed helping her every step of the way. “My instructors were really, really nice!”
With her required externship, Michaela worked as a medical assistant for a gynecology office. In this role, she checks patient vital signs, assisting in procedures and examinations, sterilizing and cleaning exam rooms and equipment, and working with patients. Her favorite experiences are when she gets to interact with patients and all of the different types of people she gets to meet in her role. Her externship did more than give her the experience she needed, “they hired me right out of my externship!”
In the future, Michaela wants to earn her bachelor’s degree. She eventually wants to go to nursing school later once she gets some Medical Assisting experience under her belt.
She has already begun recommending ANU to her coworkers looking to earn their education because she knows that ANU can work with busy schedules.
For those new students looking to join ANU, she advises: “Just do it! You can accomplish anything as long as you put your mind to it.”
