Congrats to Master of Public Health grad Angela Oakley for earning the highest mark on the 2018 Certified Health Education Specialist Exam! She scored first out of more than 1,700 registered candidates. The National Commission for Health Education Credentialing (NCHEC) administers the exam, a prestigious indicator of competence for health education specialists.
"I attribute my success to the great preparation provided through CSUN coursework, paired with a thorough review of the NCHEC study guide," said Oakley, who also received a Commendation Award at her graduation hooding ceremony.
Oakley now starts a career working for a nonprofit in Claremont, where she will promote healthy lifestyles and sustainability. "I am already applying the program planning process in my first job since completing my MPH," she said. "I am required to map program goals and objectives to specific strategies and activities, and to plan and implement a process to measure outcomes and impact of our work. I feel very confident in my knowledge of these aspects of the job."
Oakley earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Washington, where she double majored in environmental science and geography. "I see a strong relationship between many human health problems and our planet's health, and I want to improve both," she said. "I believe we can reduce suffering and costs, and increase quality of life. I wanted to find a career that would be more than just a job that pays the rent. I set out to find specific training that would enable me to be involved in changing the direction of the dramatic increase in chronic, preventable diseases in our country."
Job growth for health educators and community health workers is expected to grow 16 percent from 2016-2026, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. "Public health is a very exciting field that encompasses a lot of different specialties," she noted. "The profession is dedicated to improving quality of life, and it offers rewarding opportunities to make a positive difference in the world. CSUN's program provided me with a solid body of knowledge and skills that apply directly to the community setting. The hard work of earning an MPH is really starting to pay off."
