Owens Outstanding Grad Endicott Found Change She Needed
After working in a law firm for twenty years, Kristen Endicott admits she was burned out in her current job. So, she decided to take control of her change and go back to school.
Now with her associate degree in Health Information Technology (HIT)—along with an outstanding graduate honor—Endicott is ready to turn the page and see what’s next.
“I’m an older student, so coming back to school after being out for a while and still being able to have success is pretty cool,” Endicott said.
She already holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, so Endicott has been in college classrooms before. She credits that experience with some of her current academic success.
“I think so, just being through it all before,” Endicott said. “I have kids that are also in college, so I’ve been through a lot of school situations in the past. I think it helped because I knew what’s involved and what to expect.”
Not that everything was the same. Unlike during her first time in college, Endicott has a family and job to attend to. One of her sons is a student at Bowling Green State University, creating some fun conversations at home.
“They still tease me, we go back and forth if I’m getting my homework done, what are my grades like, things like that,” Endicott said.
A career in the healthcare field was always something that interested Endicott. She originally started as a biology pre-med major, and she took classes before at Owens in the Surgical Technology program.
She isn’t quite sure how she found out about careers in health information, but it’s checked all the boxes.
“It’s great for anyone who wants to be in the medical field but doesn’t want to be hands-on with patients,” Endicott said. “You’re still learning about diagnoses, learning about procedures and meds. You learn about all the things involved but you don’t have to take care of the patient, be hands-on.”
Endicott said she’s focused on graduation and passing the state licensure exam. After that, she’ll explore what jobs are available.
She’s also enjoyed her time at Owens. Even though the HIT classes routinely meet online and don’t require students being on campus a lot, she was impressed with the growth and improvements of the college.
“I’ve enjoyed Owens, I like Owens,” Endicott said. “This new lab is great, and all the updates they’ve made all over campus have been nice from when I was here fifteen, twenty years ago. There are a lot of updated things that are very nice.”
Published April 2025