Serving Community

Anita Henry is embarking on a new phase of her life and when she saw the advertisement for PROTEC thought it might be the thing to jumpstart her new career. Anita brings an amazing set of skills that involves caring for people, animals, plants and about any other earthly creatures you can name. That caring translates into an amazing set of customer service skills that Anita was able to apply in the busiest two weeks the Welcome and Advising Center at Santa Fe Community College experiences; fall registration.

"Anita was amazing!" announces Dr. Cheryl Fields (pictured on the left) and this sentiment was echoed across the staff in the Welcome and Advising Center. "She jumped right in and started assisting students on day one," says Danielle Gonzales, (pictured on the right). Anita (center) said learning ten new tasks a day definitely "jumpstarted" her ideas about the next career path. "Helping students navigate registration, get their schedules for the term and get their new IDs was really rewarding," reports Anita, "I enjoy the active environment and being able to help people. And people here are so gracious. I never experienced working with a Community College. I am impressed by all the wonderful people helping each other."

Anita was able to apply computer skills in helping students navigate web registration and the best part of the job was talking with people and learning from them. Anita is now planning to pursue part-time work in early-childhood education and is open to exploring new career paths. Starting something new can be daunting but Anita is one of those rare people that brims with perseverance. I feel very lucky to have met Anita and learn from her that reinventing ourselves is possible and sometimes it takes a quiet strength of character to find the right doors to open life's new adventures.