After nine years of service in the Navy, I didn’t know what I wanted to do.

Nursing has always been a career I wanted to try, but I was too afraid to take the first step. My husband is a hospital corpsman in the Navy and brings books home about all sorts of different diseases and treatments. These books fascinate me.

He speaks so passionately about his job. He loves helping people. One night he told me, “You should try nursing. I think you would be great at it.”

So, I took a step. The next week I registered for classes in the medical assistant field. It wasn’t nursing but being a medical assistant taught me a lot about working in the doctor’s office and the basics of the health field.

During my nine months of training I fell in love with the field. I knew this was the career that I wanted.

Love isn’t easy. The school work and the lab assignments are no joke. At times, I had second thoughts about continuing. If it wasn’t for the support and motivation from my husband and my fellow classmates, I don’t know if I would have finished.

The greatest feeling was walking across the stage to receive my diploma. All that hard work paid off. I had earned my degree as a medical assistant. I wanted more.

I decided to become a registered nurse. Now, I’m finishing my first year of prerequisites for my nursing degree.

Yes, it’s hard work. I am up late at night studying and memorizing body parts and medications that I never thought existed. But the end goal is worth it. I look forward to helping another human. That opportunity is priceless to me and I’m happy to do it!