Editor’s Note: Salute to Spouses’ writer Samantha Carroll graduated college once - and went back years later to earn a second degree in nursing. Her return to campus was exhausting, thrilling and worth every moment. Please enjoy her personal story about going back to school and starting a brand new career.
Four years ago when I went back to school, I hurried to class, like many students each morning. But instead of rolling out of bed to get there in the nick of time after a long night of either studying or being with friends, I packed a diaper bag and left early in order to get my toddler to the babysitter’s on time. When I settled into my classroom, I reached into my shiny new book bag to retrieve my class materials and I discovered a Dora the Explorer doll and a random pacifier amongst my pens and folders. At age 34, I sat in a Psychology 101 class with students who were ten years younger than me and who were in college for the first time.
After eleven years of sales and marketing work, where I loosely used my journalism degree, I was bitten by the “nursing bug” and decided to return to school for a degree in nursing. That decision was easy. As the wife of a soldier, with a baby, maneuvering the decision to stop working full-time to return to class was the tricky part. Then, a move to Savannah and my husband’s very first deployment lit the proverbial fire underneath me and I learned to register for classes online, which I didn’t have to do the first time. I quickly became used to being an older, non-traditional student, as there were quite a few “second timers” like me, especially in the nursing program.
My husband was either deployed or away training for over half of my second college career. I credit Army family childcare, pre-school and my dear friends for helping me during my quasi-single parenting days, so that I could not only go to class but also study. I am not a person who can stay up late and do schoolwork once everyone is in bed. I never have been and I certainly applaud those who can do it. Once my daughter began kindergarten, I was in the home stretch. In addition to regular class time, tests and projects, I had clinical time in the hospital that required me to leave my house before the crack of dawn, and once again, when my husband was away, my friends were nice enough to accept an additional kid at 5:45 a.m. to dress and drive to school along with their own children.
During my time in school, I was fortunate enough to not have to work. I had quite a few classmates who not only worked almost full-time but had families too. Again, my hat goes off to these amazing people. Right before my final year of nursing school, however, I acquired a part-time job at one of the local hospitals. The title was Student Patient Care Technician and I was hired based on having completed a minimal amount of nursing courses and the fact that I was still enrolled in a nursing program. The job consisted of entry level, non-licensed patient care like: bed baths, checking vital signs, changing beds and helping feed patients if necessary. It was a very flexible schedule. So flexible, I could choose my own hours and work as much or as little as I wanted. There were a minimal amount of shifts to work in a given time period, so I only worked the minimum. I took this position not only to better familiarize myself with the clinical setting but also to use as a networking tool. This particular hospital is always hiring new nursing graduates and the more areas I could work in, and the more people I could meet, the better the job prospects.
One day, about three months before graduation, I was assigned to work in the Orthopedic Trauma unit. It was extremely busy and the staff were all very nice and helpful and I felt an instant synergy with them. At my shift’s end, they asked me to come back the next time I worked, and when it came time for my final semester of nursing school when we chose an area to work with for ten shifts with a nurse preceptor, to my delight, I was able to do my clinical hours in that unit. Not long into my program, the nurse manager asked if I was interested in receiving an early job offer. Of course I was and I accepted. I later found out that my work as a student tech was what inspired that early offer.
After graduation, and two grueling weeks of studying for the NCLEX (National Council Licensure Exam,) I passed and began my nurse residency program. I had not worked full-time in a while and the first two weeks was harder to get used to than I thought. I was exhausted at the end of each day. But, in that program, I was surrounded by 87 newly licensed nurses just like me. It was great to be go through the information overload and anticipation of what’s to come with others. I’ve recently begun my 12-hour shifts with a nurse preceptor and I got the night shift rotation first. Since I’m not a night person, this has proven to be particularly challenging for me and I’m certainly glad it’s only for four weeks. And, big surprise, my husband is out of town for a month.
My personality type somehow thrives upon challenge. I am, after all, an Army wife. It’s funny, I never set out to be an orthopedic nurse. I was content letting my nurse specialty find me once I knew I wanted to set out on this journey. In spite of the kid drop offs, diapers and books, the stress of simultaneously studying for tests and preparing for deployments and homecomings, I feel as though I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. And when I think back to the afternoons when I opened my psychology book and found a Dora flashcard on page 163, and even now when I’m exhausted but have to make myself sleep during the day and my daughter is with a friend and my husband is on the other side of the country, I stop and ask myself, “Was it all worth it?”
You bet it was!
