Ric C. Balanay

Working as a laboratory assistant was the starting point of Ric C. Balanay’s career in a laboratory setting.  One thing he planned to do was to go back to school to earn his Associates Degree.  However, Balanay was not a traditional student, having a full-time job and being a hands-on father, he questioned wether going back to school was possible. All his other responsibilities made it hard for him to feel confident in his ability to be successful. When his family relocated to North Carolina and he continued work as a lab support technician he revisited the idea of going to school and enrolled in the Medical Laboratory Technology Program at Beaufort Community College. 

Going back to school for him being “older” had been a challenge for him.  Worried about keeping up with other younger students in addition to being a family man and a night-shift laboratory employee gave him some doubts but he persevered.  Now Balanay is graduation in the Spring of 2017, and he is confident that the education and training he received at BCCC is preparing him to pursue a great career as a medical laboratory technician.