The economic downturn has affected people in a variety of businesses across the board.  Some people have found themselves completely out of business and looking to do something else.  Many are returning to school to earn nursing degrees or medical degrees to fill the need for medical personnel and nurses across the country.

Art and Tillie Pease once had a thriving yacht brokerage business on Kent Island that once pulled in $3 million in sales.

Today, the couple live with their 28-year-old daughter out of necessity. They lost their jobs and their home after the boat business collapsed — the victim of high gas prices and a recession in which boating is a sacrificial luxury.

They’re taking a shot at a new life. But first they’re hitting the books. They have enrolled in Anne Arundel Community College’s nursing program, hoping to become two of the 10,000 nurses Maryland needs by 2016. Both in their 50s, they looked for a profession that would welcome them at any age. They knew corporate America wouldn’t be that place.

The Peases are among a growing number of the recession’s career changers. As Maryland’s unemployment rate creeps past 7 percent, the out-of-work are heading back to school to land jobs in areas that need more people. Health care, alternative energy, federal aviation and managing health information are some of the places they are turning. Money from the $787 billion federal stimulus is helping the trend by funneling money into training programs.

Earning a nursing degree online can almost guarantee that you will work when you graduate.  The demand for qualified nurses is just that high.