By Dina Simoneaux

As graduation approaches, it takes me back to that very moment.

The moment you realize that the future is happening and that what you decide to do determines the course of the rest of your life.

Some are fortunate enough to stay in college for years to become doctors and lawyers. Others go on to be successful with a two to four year degree. Sadly, for some, the path to take is not always that clear.

Nevertheless, everybody has a path to achieve a goal and it is just finding out which path is right for you.

For me, the path was not so clear. Due to personal family reasons I could not foresee going the long haul in college, so that left me not really knowing what to do.

The career I choose came about in such an unlikely way. Sitting in the kitchen on a hot summer day I heard my grandfather call out to me to come see something on TV.

It was an advertisement from a career development institute for medical transcription training that I could do from home. That seemed like the perfect fit, something I could finish at my own pace from home while still working a fulltime job.

I stayed in that field for years until outsourcing became a thing and then eventually voice recognition. The field of transcription dwindled to nearly nothing and I was caught in a rough spot of not knowing what to do.

I took to browsing online and found that medical coding was something I could do from home while I worked fulltime in transcription, but the cost of the coding course was way out of my reach, so I prayed.

One morning while worrying about what I would do if I lost transcription altogether, the phone rang.

On the other end was a very friendly voice who asked if I was interested in medical coding.

The lady said she was from one of the places I had contacted and that they had recently come into partnership with a college and could offer me a Pell Grant and on top of that the course was broken down into 6 quarters and I could actually do it while working fulltime and raising two kids.

This was none other than God making a way for me.

I am proud to say that I got through the course and I am now certified in medical coding.

While I still work fulltime in transcription, I have the security of knowing that if I lost my job tomorrow that I am certified in coding and could get another decent job working from home so that I can be a provider as well as a stay at home mother for my kids.

Everybody has their path; they just have to find it as I did.

Congratulations to all of the graduates.