FRCC Medical Assisting student gains valuable on-the-job healthcare experience.
Editor’s note: It’s National Apprenticeship Week (November 17-23)! Interested employers can join us at one of our virtual employer information sessions to learn more about FRCC’s apprenticeship pathways.
Life after high school graduation put a few unexpected obstacles in Cydnee Fuller’s road to college.
The Colorado native was all set to attend the University of Northern Colorado in the fall of 2023. But six weeks before she was to leave, her grandmother developed sepsis after hip surgery—so Cydnee and her mother became full-time caregivers.
A Start at FRCC
Instead of starting at UNC, she enrolled at Front Range Community College. Cydnee was familiar with FRCC because she’d taken concurrent enrollment classes through Mead High School and had completed a weeklong, pre-apprenticeship program there earlier that summer.
“The medical assistant apprenticeship really interested me, because I’ve always wanted to go into nursing,” says Cydnee. Her inspiration? Her grandma who was an accomplished nurse.
“My grandma was one of my best friends,” she says. “She was a nurse who owned her own private practice and was a dean of nursing at the Denver School of Nursing in her career.”
Sadly, her grandma passed away in December 2023. “I always aspired to be like her, and everything I do today, I have her in mind,” Cydnee says. “I knew that she would want me to keep going to school.”
Earning While Learning
Cydnee applied to several medical assistant apprenticeships and was hired at Longmont United, a CommonSpirit hospital where her mother happens to work as well. She took online classes through FRCC, worked at the hospital four days a week, and did in-person labs on Saturdays.
Doing this paid on-the-job training prepared Cydnee to sit for the Certified Medical Assistant exam through the American Association of Medical Assistants. In January 2024, she took the exam after finishing her medical assisting certificate at FRCC. She passed, which allowed her to move into a full-time position as a medical assistant at Longmont United.
Building Her Resume
Cydnee’s ambitious start to college only fueled her motivation, and she decided to follow in the footsteps of some of her FRCC instructors. “Many of my medical assistant instructors taught phlebotomy too, so I figured maybe doing that would be a good thing for my resume,” she says.
So on top of her medical assistant classes, she registered to take phlebotomy at FRCC. She took the Certified Phlebotomy Technician exam offered by the National Health Career Association in May 2024—and passed.
Although she had already secured a full-time job, she wanted to stay true to her original goal of nursing.
“When my grandmother was in the hospital at UCHealth Anschutz, she received such incredible care from the nurses there,” she says. “That only solidified that I want to become a nurse. I want to give the kind of care that my grandma received and make patients and their families feel seen and heard.”
Onward to her Next Big Goal
Cydnee was so touched by the nurses she encountered at Anschutz that she decided to apply to work for the UCHealth hospital system. In July 2024, she was hired as a medical assistant at UCHealth Primary Care – Ken Pratt Boulevard, and she’s been working full time to save up money.
“It is an amazing place with great people,” she says. “They help their employees advance their education too.”
Now, Cydnee is preparing to return to FRCC in January 2025 to start taking prerequisite courses for nursing school. She hopes to apply in a year so she can start the associate degree in nursing program in the spring of 2026, and she wants to pursue the Bachelor of Science in nursing too—which she can complete online through FRCC.
While Cydnee is interested in oncology and labor and delivery, she’s excited to explore different clinical areas during nursing school. More education is probably in her future too.
Her grandma held a Master of Science in nursing, a Doctor of Philosophy in nursing and the Adult Nurse Practitioner certification. “She never fully retired, and she loved to learn,” Cydnee says. “I might be like her!”
FRCC: The Best Choice for Cydnee
Doing a medical assisting apprenticeship with FRCC allowed Cydnee to earn an education and an income simultaneously—and get hands-on experience in healthcare. “Doing an apprenticeship through FRCC lets you explore a career while you’re in school, which can confirm you’re in the right program or lead you to new possibilities,” she says.
“It opens so many doors. It also built my confidence. I realized that if I’m curious about a discipline, I could just reach out to a group and ask to shadow a physician or nurse. You never know who you’re going to meet and how that might change your path.”
Although going to FRCC wasn’t in Cydnee’s initial plan, she couldn’t be happier with the way things have worked out. “I absolutely love Front Range,” she says.
“Every single teacher I had loves what they do, and you can tell that they genuinely want to teach students, hear their stories and help them achieve their goals.”
