Helena M.

As a military family; after ten years of moving from one part of the country to another; I wanted to do the Dental Assistant program to have a credential and career of my own, and to benefit my family. I had always thought of going into the field of dentistry so once we were settled here in Columbia, I finally got my opportunity at FORTIS College.

My experience with the program was good; I made a lot of friends and had a lot of support from classmates, in and out of school. On top of a demanding program and running a home and family, I was also dealing with cancer treatments. I would go for treatments after class and then go home to study and take care of my home and family. I don’t know where the energy came from and on days when it just wasn’t there, the instructors were very supportive and flexible with helping me keep up with program requirements.

I feel great about my achievement; I’m really happy to have been able to finish after coping with all the issues I dealt with during the program. I was hired by my externship site and it felt really, really good to put on the work scrubs and get paid and realize that all that effort had paid off.