![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.ntcmn.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/07\/NTC_Kaci_Pedersen_657x438.jpg\")
<\/a><\/strong><\/strong>The best two years of her life \u2014 that\u2019s how Kaci Lee Petersen describes her time at Northwest Technical College<\/a>. From securing the education she needed to building a career to creating lifelong friendships, the 31-year-old says her time at NTC was life-changing.<\/p>\n\u201cI had no intention of going to a traditional college \u2013 or any college, for that matter \u2013 after high school,\u201d Petersen said. \u201cMy mother encouraged me to enroll at NTC and it was the best two years of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Petersen, a Bemidji native, worked as a grocery store clerk prior to enrolling at NTC. She graduated from the college\u2019s Medical Administrative Secretary program in 2003.<\/p>\n
Now working as a coding specialist, she says NTC did \u201can excellent job\u201d preparing her for coding certification exams.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the field where I\u2019m employed, it\u2019s pretty impossible to obtain a job without education and formal training.\u201d<\/p>\n
NTC\u2019s programs are significantly shorter than traditional bachelor\u2019s degree programs, and students have the flexibility of taking both online and on-site courses. This helped Petersen create a class schedule that allowed her to work full-time and graduate with no student loan debt.<\/p>\n
In addition, Petersen said it was beneficial to have instructors who had worked in the field they were teaching.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey used their own real-world experiences to help shape our college education and make sure we were ready for anything,\u201d Peterson said. \u201cThey were also available as references after graduation and, \u00a0in my case, helped me get my first job.\u201d<\/p>\n
NTC\u2019s small campus and class sizes create an intimate learning environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was involved in student senate and other activities during my tenure, and have remained lifelong friends with many fellow students.\u201d<\/p>\n
Looking back, Petersen says her college experience at NTC was \u201cexceptional.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the instructors and support staff were amazing, and the relationships I built with other students will last a lifetime,\u201d she said. \u201cI am so grateful for making the choice to pursue a two-year technical degree that prepared me for an amazing career \u2013 not just a job!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The best two years of her life \u2013 that\u2019s how Kaci Lee Petersen describes her time at Northwest Technical College. From securing the education she needed to building a career to creating lifelong friendships, the 31-year-old says her time at NTC was life-changing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":51,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ntcmn.edu\/career-paths\/health-care\/health-care-support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ntcmn.edu\/career-paths\/health-care\/health-care-support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ntcmn.edu\/career-paths\/health-care\/health-care-support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ntcmn.edu\/career-paths\/health-care\/health-care-support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ntcmn.edu\/career-paths\/health-care\/health-care-support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.ntcmn.edu\/career-paths\/health-care\/health-care-support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75,"href":"https:\/\/www.ntcmn.edu\/career-paths\/health-care\/health-care-support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50\/revisions\/75"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ntcmn.edu\/career-paths\/health-care\/health-care-support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ntcmn.edu\/career-paths\/health-care\/health-care-support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ntcmn.edu\/career-paths\/health-care\/health-care-support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ntcmn.edu\/career-paths\/health-care\/health-care-support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}