There’s nothing like having a lot of hands-on experience — especially for a new massage therapist.
“One of the chiropractors that I interviewed with said my techniques were very advanced for somebody who just got out of school, so I felt pretty good about myself,” Alice Franco said at a recent Inspire Club meeting. “It’s been such an incredible journey.”
Franco graduated from the Massage Therapy program at American Career College in September 2015. A week later she was working in her field, she said, because of the hundreds of hours spent in the massage lab at ACC-Long Beach.
Franco said she was impressed with ACC-Long Beach Massage Therapy Program Director Kara Mirarchi and her experience working as a sports massage therapist with the U.S. Soccer Women’s National Team. Franco said Mirarchi "fought really hard" to provide her students everything they needed as a professional.
“She always made her students the top priority and I’ve never had that from a teacher, ever. I’ve never had a teacher care for me so much to succeed," Franco said. "She made us all feel like we were one big family and that’s something you don’t get in a lot of places."
Franco now works for a chiropractor who helps treat UFC fighters and professional surfers. She also has hours at a wellness center, sharing space with another massage therapist. She eventually wants to specialize in sports massage.
Franco and her younger sister — who recently enrolled at ACC-Long Beach in the dental assisting program — were the first in her family to go to college, she said.
“ACC turned out to be different than what I expected. I thought it was going to be like any other school but it turned out to be the best school I could attend, to be honest,” she said.
