When I was growing up and even into my early adulthood. I had no idea that I wanted to be a nurse. The thought had never even crossed my mind without some encouragement from my mom. My mom has worked in the medical field for 21 years. She is a Certified Medical Assistant (now in the ADN program of a local college) whose aspiration was to always be a nurse. She is intelligent, observant, quick on her feet, a good critical thinker and overall she truly cares about people.
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| my Mama aka my inspiration |
From helping her study for her Medical Assistant classes to helping her study for her National test. Being in the medical field has kind of always been a part of my life. But I had other plans. I wanted to be in a ward winning journalist covering news from war zones and impoverished areas around the world. I wanted to shed light on the plight of others in order to help them. I wanted to win a Pulitzer for groundbreaking and life-changing a new stories.
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| the coveted B.A. degree! |
The recession that began in 2008 derail those plans and made me think about where I would go with my English and journalism degree. Then a year later I had Liam and I really had to begin to think about careers that would be profitable and allow me to raise a child as a single parent. I was also in a mountain of student loan debt so I had that think of.
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| Hellloooo single motherhood |
It wasn't until a couple of years later when I was moving back to Kentucky that the idea and plan for nursing school really began. I started taking my prerequisite classes that next semester and the rest was history. I found like I had finally found my stride and was beginning to walk in my purpose. I began the associate degree nursing program at Eastern Kentucky University in the spring of 2013. That same semester my dad had life-changing heart surgery, Liam was officially diagnosed with autism and to top it all off I got mono 2 months into the semester.
I was devastated, I missed about two weeks of class but I pressed on thinking that I could successfully finish what I had started. That was not the case I failed out of my first semester of nursing school. That same semester I had also began working at the University of Kentucky hospital on a med-surg floor and continued to work at the hospital for 2 years and I honestly wasn't even sure if nursing was what I was meant to do anymore. The pay was shitty, the job was shitty and most importantly I did not find the purpose or pleasure and helping people because I was mentally and physically exhausted having to work overtime just to pay bills and make ends meet. At that same time I was still freelancing and beauty.
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| Med/Surge tech days :/ |
I left the hospital and returned beauty in October 2015. At that point, I had loosely made up my mind that I would stay in beauty because it paid a lot more than working as a tech in the hospital, I had normal hours and I also truly enjoyed what I was doing. When that no longer fulfilled me and made me happy, something told me that nursing was it.
Unfortunately my failing grade and the 9 credit class that nursing fundamentals was changed my GPA so my average was about a 2.2 or 2.3. I couldn't get into any nursing program with a GPA that low. A former coworker from the hospital told me about the LPN program at BCTC and I applied in Spring 2017. I was accepted to the program and I successfully finished my first semester of nursing school December 2017.
I had to take a semester break because my biology prerequisite is too old so I am repeating that class now, but I will resume second semester in the LPN program in August. LPN to RN to NP is a pretty long route, but I do truly believe it is the route I was meant to take.
I am still in a mountain of student debt and unless I go to grad school right now I have no more loans available to me because I have a Bachelor's degree. After the debacle from my first stint in nursing school, I have been a self pay student. I was blessed enough that last semester and fall semester I got a scholarship geared towards single parents with children under 12. I just received word a few weeks ago that I now have qualified for the actual nursing scholarship and all my tuition will be paid for fall semester and my last semester in the spring next year.
I feel like things are lining up in my favor it is now up to me to get all those letters after my name. Cicely Carter, LPN -> Cicely Carter, RN -> Cicely Carter, WHNP and/or Midwife. I shared that with you guys to let you know that there is more than one way to reach your destination. The key is you just gotta KEEP GOING.
Until again,
Bougie Beauty Babe
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