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Stephne Morgan '22
Within each of our Bay Path community members is an inspirational story of perseverance and strength, and we are honored to share them. This narrative originally appeared as part of Bay Path's #MyPath on social media.
"This is my third career; that's what I tell people. I was born and raised in Chicopee, MA. When I graduated high school, I was going to be a chef. Then I switched to hospitality management and worked at Disney. I loved it but making $5 an hour was not what I wanted. So, I came home. I walked into Springfield Technical Community College and said, 'Give me whatever class in the medical field that I don't need to take phlebotomy.' And that's how I got my associate degree and became a medical coder.
"And then I was done with school. I had been working for Health New England, and I had set it in my head that I was happy with my associate degree and didn't need to go any further. I was in my thirties, and I didn't want to take out a student loan. And where would school fit into my life?
"But my former director really put it in my head. Everyone one-on-one would end with, 'So did you give any more thought about going back to school? You can do it.'
"Growing up in the area, I've always known about Bay Path. I knew it was easy for career people to learn as much as they could, in a short amount of time. I liked the idea of being online or taking classes on Saturdays. And it was affordable for me with financial tuition reimbursement.
"So, I sent an email to admissions for information. Within a week, I had a phone interview set up to go over everything -tuition, programs, what it was, the lifestyle, the expectations. Got everything I needed over. It was really quick. I started talking to Bay Path in mid-October, and I started classes in January.
"I did the Leadership and Organizational studies. I never saw myself as a leader. But I was surprised to see that I was already using some of those ideas at work. Being able to give negative feedback, was something that nobody ever likes to do. I learned that it can be a positive thing. It's all in the approach. That was a key element of my classes that I use every day in my supervisor role.
"When I finished my program, I didn't want to believe it until I had my degree in hand. And I cried. I took a picture of my diploma, sent it to my former director and I said, 'This degree is because you believed in me. And thank you, because I didn't believe that I could do it until you pushed me.'' - Stephne Morgan '22 #MyPath