KAREN YENSER BUSH

After I graduated from high school, I had no tentative plans for a career, other than get a job, work and eventually get married and have children, like most girls my age. I did have an interest in nursing. I began at the Pocono Medical Center in Stroudsburg Pa. as a CNA. I attempted once in LPN school but had to drop out because of my toddler being very sick. I had another child after that, and was taking some educational courses at ESU with the help of a local Head Start. I completed 21 credits in Early Childhood education.

I divorced in 1974, and moved out of state with my second husband who was completing a career in the military service. We traveled abroad twice to Germany, and I was able to travel other countries in Europe. After he retired in 1990, we returned to PA. and I became an EMT volunteering with West End Ambulance in Effort Pa. In 1996, our family moved to NC and I succeeded in obtaining my CNA level 2 and worked in a hospital setting once again. I found an opportunity to return to school in 1998 and completed studies and received my Associate In Applied Sciences degree in Medical Assisting, and graduated with honors from Vance Granville Community College in NC. I passed state boards and got my licensure in Medical Assisting. I worked for several MD's and also worked in a hospital setting as well. In 2005, I was forced to retire due to medical issues.

While I was in High School, I had an interest in history, but Mr. Pany was the most influential teacher I can recall fondly. I can only remember ONE time I had to write 5000 words, but that taught me a life lesson. Coupled with his teaching, I was able to see other countries, their government and freedoms so many take for granted. The older I have become, the more I realize we had it so good back then, and too much gets passed by and get lost in the shuffle. I have travelled abroad to foreign countries and appreciated the things we took so much for granted in today's lifestyle. I have seen poverty at it's best, while on cruises to the Caribbean and islands there. I have also been to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, Canada. I have experienced language barriers amongst other issues.

While I was home this summer, I went to a group gathering at the Town and Country Diner in Bath, and who walked in the door, but Mr. Pany. It was Soo good to see him again, hasn't changed, just older and wiser. I enjoy seeing my two grandchildren learning "some" of the things we learned all those years ago, that still goes on in today's curriculums. I'm glad to give them a few pointers now and then.

All in all, I look back on all the things we learned, and how I have applied them to everyday living. I am satisfied that at 50 some years after I graduated from HS, I was glad to prove and hit my goal in life, to have a career in the medical field. I apply things daily in what I have learned, and thankful to know I succeeded in my goal.