April Mickelson
Health Occupations II
April Mickelson is the newest member of the KACC faculty. We're very fortunate at KACC having two Health Occupations instructors who are not only RN's, they have both worked many years in the healthcare industry while continuing their education earning Master's degrees.
According to Mrs. April Mickelson, becoming a nurse was, in fact, her childhood dream. Now, as teacher, she can assist her students in fulfilling their goals and dreams too. Achieving her childhood dream wasn't as easy as some might think. Graduating from Reddick High School in 1973, Mrs. Mickelson left high school behind without any thoughts of going on to college. At that time in her life, she was happily engaged to be married and is now the proud parent of two grown daughters.
Long before she began nursing school, Mrs. Mickelson worked at Henson Ambulance and then accepted a position at Provena St. Mary's Hospital. As time moved on and job requirements dictated, Mrs. Mickelson decided to take the plunge and go to college to earn her RN while working full time as an emergency department technician at Provena St. Mary's Hospital. Mrs. Mickelson has always maintained her connection with this hospital. Even now, she continues to work at St. Mary's on a part-time basis.
Not only did Mrs. Mickelson attend Kankakee Community College(KCC) achieving her Associates Degree in Nursing in 1988, she made the conscious decision she wasn't ready to stop learning. Mrs. Mickelson registered at Olivette Nazarene University, where she earned her Bachelor of Science degree in 1993 and then her Master's in Business Administration (MBA) in 1998.
Following completion of her MBA degree, a new career opportunity developed. Mrs. Mickelson was able to combine the knowledge gained from her education with her years of work experience and accepted a job offer from a local emergency department physician. In this new position, Mrs. Mickelson began working all over Illinois as a Practice Manager helping establish seven new emergency department contracts.
Then, one day, Mrs. Mickelson, was flipping through the paper and came across an advertisement for a Health Occupations Instructor at KACC. Coming here to KACC gave Mrs. Mickelson the perfect balance between her work at the hospital, working with the students here, and having plenty of time with her husband, children, grandchildren and her second passion - her horses.
Inside the classroom, Mrs. Mickelson gives her students a more in depth look into health occupations. Her students learn medical terminology at a college level and earn dual credit from Kankakee Community College when they successfully complete Mrs. Mickelson's class. In fact, students who successfully complete Health Occupations I & II at KACC have already earned their CNA certification and 10 college credit hours at KCC when they graduate high school ~ a leg-up on other college freshman.
In addition to the medical terminology and insight into various paths to take within the health profession, most senior students go out on internships. Mrs. Mickelson regularly visits the students on their internship sites to ensure they are doing their best and learning the most from this unique opportunity. Even though Mrs. Mickelson hasn't been teaching for long, she is already comfortable teaching her students and helping them do their best.
When asked about her pet peeve, Mrs. Mickelson said it is students talking out of turn since it distracts others from learning.
Sometimes teenagers struggle to set goals for themselves. According to Mrs. Mickelson, it's a great experience for her to see students set goals for themselves and then "give it all they've got". Mrs. Mickelson is a firm believer "If they work hard, they can achieve their goals."
