Former Raider Uses Free College Classes to Advance Her Goals

July 21, 2020 - Kathryn Massagee of Rockingham is only one year out of high school, but the college student is eager to begin her career and start earning a living that will allow her to do all the fun things she likes such as travelling and fostering pets. 

This was why the former Raiders cheerleader decided to take free college classes at Richmond Community College during her junior year at Richmond Senior High School.  

“My goal was to graduate college early, which would also help save a year’s worth of tuition,” Massagee said. “I took basic classes like English and math, which I knew would count toward most bachelor's degrees.” 

RichmondCC’s Career & College Promise (CCP) program allows high school students to be dually enrolled in college classes for free. Massagee also took college classes during the summers of her high school years, earning as many free transferable college credits as she could. She knew her plan after graduating high school in 2019 was to go to East Carolina University and study health service management. 

“Once I knew I was going to ECU, my advisor would tell me what to take at RichmondCC in order to finish my general education requirements as quickly as possible,” Massagee said. “I would 100 percent recommend taking summer classes at RichmondCC. It has helped me tremendously.”   

Her advisor, Director of K-12 Partnerships for RichmondCC Kary Edmondson, said she knew Massagee was a very motivated high school student. 

"I was impressed with Kathryn's focus and work ethic and knew she wanted to make the most of her college experience in the CCP program. Because she also knew exactly where she wanted to go to college, I was also able to work with her to develop a specific plan that puts her several steps ahead as she's entering ECU," Edmondson said. "With her dedication, I have no doubt she will be very successful in her career.” 

Massagee has a big heart. She loves her family and friends and enjoys fostering pets and pet sitting. Going into healthcare so she could help others was a natural decision for her. 

“I want to go into health service management because I have always wanted to help people," she said. “Beth McDougald (at Richmond Senior High) opened my eyes during high school to all the options in the healthcare field and taught me many things I could use in college. She was probably one of my favorite teachers.” 

In the fall of 2019, Massagee enrolled as a freshman at ECU. In January, she applied to the Health Service Management Program with the College of Allied Health Science for the fall of 2020.  

“The school only accepts 60 students a year between the three majors in the Health Science/Management field. I was one of the youngest to ever apply, and they were impressed by my accomplishments,” she said. 

Typical admissions to the program, however, occurs after four semesters at ECU, so the odds of Massagee getting accepted were not encouraging since she was still technically a freshman. Much to her surprise, she was accepted. 

Massagee is back at RichmondCC this summer, taking more classes that will transfer to ECU. After earning a bachelor’s degree, she plans to get a master’s in health service management so she can one day be a healthcare administrator or a chief operating officer for a hospital or medical facility. 

“It is exciting for me realizing that my hard work is paying off,” she said. 

Massagee recently sent an email to the president of RichmondCC, describing how the College has had an impact on her life.  

“Thanks to dual enrollment and summer classes at Richmond Community College, I will graduate college a year early. I am so glad now I did the extra work to put me a year ahead of schedule," she wrote in her email to Dr. Dale McInnis.  “Needless to say, my parents are happy to save a year of college costs, also.” 

Massagee is not sure where her career will take her, but she is eager to begin the adventure and see what difference she can make in people’s lives.