Traverse City Regional Center Blog
Permanent link for Collaboration allows Ankerson to earn degree, job and stay in northern Michigan on November 4, 2022
Through a collaboration between two community colleges, McKenzie Ankerson was able to stay in northern Michigan and earn a degree for the job she wanted. Ankerson earned an associate degree in respiratory therapy from Muskegon Community College, which partnered with Northwestern Michigan College and Munson Medical Center to offer the program in Traverse City. Ankerson completed her general classes at NMC and the clinical courses at Munson. “Doing the clinicals gave me an idea of what I wanted to do. We did job shadowing and rotated among all the hospital departments to learn how a respiratory therapist works in each area,” she said. Ankerson finished her associate degree in December 2020, just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, when the term “ventilator’ became common vernacular. She was hired to work at Munson on the general hospital floors and this past January moved to the neonatal intensive care unit. It’s the same neonatal unit Ankerson and her twin brother spent time in when they were born 10 weeks early and stayed in the unit for six weeks before going home. “One of the nurses remembered our family,” she said.
The graduate of Traverse City West High School said she excelled in math and science classes during high school and entered NMC knowing she wanted to do something in the medical field. It was a family connection that led Ankerson to respiratory therapy. “My grandpa used to need oxygen and I remember people coming to his house with new tanks and the care they showed him,” she said. As demonstrated at the height of the pandemic, there is a critical need for respiratory therapists. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a 23 percent increase in the occupation from 2020-2030. Yet even with a third-shift work schedule, Ankerson decided to pursue a bachelor’s degree in allied health sciences at Grand Valley State University’s Traverse City Regional Center. She expects to graduate in April. “I wanted to get a bachelor’s degree in case I want to change careers at some point,” she said. The hybrid class schedule allows for great flexibility, Ankerson said. “The faculty are great to work with,” she said.
By Michele Coffill
