Elizabeth Stone

Elizabeth Stone has spent the last twenty years as a busy homemaker and mother of four.

After spending the bulk of her adult life raising a family, she decided to return to the workforce so she could help her now college-age children.

But at 53, with a two-year degree that was more than 30 years old, she decided going back to school to learn a new skill was the best option.

“In 1983, I received a medical secretary degree, so I decided to pursue a second degree in health care,” says Stone, who lives in Macclesfield.

She chose the Health Information Technology program at Edgecombe Community College since she was familiar with this field through her previous degree.

But the biggest draw for Stone was that ECC’s Health Information Technology program is taught completely online.

“I think I learn more when I take online classes,” she explains. “You don’t have interruptions like you do in the classroom, and honestly, in my case, there was a bit of a generational gap.”

In 1993, Stone and her husband had two children with another on the way. That’s when she decided to press pause on her career and stay at home with the kids.

Following a divorce and subsequent remarriage some years later, Stone and her husband began talking about her return to school and eventually the workplace. “There were a lot of prayers,” she says.

Receiving her degree in December was a major milestone. “I loved every second I was in the HIT program,” Stone says. “The instructors are so awesome.”

Now that she has the degree, she’s studying to take the national certification exam to become a Registered Health Information Technician.