Meet MCC Alumna Cat Hazekamp

 

When Cat Hazekamp first came to Montcalm Community College, she knew she would be transferring to another institution to finish her bachelor’s degree.

 

“I wasn’t ready to move away from home,” said Hazekamp, who grew up in the Stanton area and now resides in Ionia. “My first two years were going to be taking classes to meet my general education requirements, so I thought I may as well save myself some money by starting off at the community college and figuring out what I wanted to do.”

Cat Hazekamp

Hazekamp graduated with high honors from MCC in 2014 with an Associate of Arts and transferred to Aquinas College. She originally was pursuing a degree in education with plans to become a teacher. However, she decided to change majors and earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology. From there, she earned a master’s degree in social work at Michigan State University.

 

These decisions may have changed the course of her career, but she is still working with children, which is what she intended to do all along.

 

“When I started doing my field placements for teaching, I realized being in a classroom was not what I wanted to do,” she said.

 

Hazekamp, age 26, recently began working with the Montcalm Care Network as a home-based therapist.

 

“I work with kids who are at high risk for being removed from the home for things like residential treatment placement or CPS (child protective services),” she explained. “I just basically go in and do therapy with them and their families to help the parents learn skills to help their kids and to help the kids learn coping skills.”

 

Of her educational journey, Hazekamp said the hardest part of the transfer puzzle was deciding which school to attend after MCC.

 

“At the time, I also applied to Calvin College, and I met with transfer representatives at both Calvin and Aquinas to see which of my MCC courses would transfer and other classes I should take at MCC,” she said.

 

“I liked Aquinas’ program a little better, and more of my classes transferred there. They also offered me a transfer scholarship,” Hazekamp said.

 

“I would encourage students looking to transfer to sit down with an advisor at MCC and the transferring institution to make sure their classes will transfer,” she added.