Mission at Work: Amanda's Path to Nightingale

So you said you like lifeguarded here. Are you from here?

I'm from Spokane. Yeah. Yeah.

Tell us a little, like where you're from, growing up.

Are you ready? Are we starting? Oh, okay. So I'm from Spokane. I was born and raised here. My parents still live in the house I grew up in, we moved there when I was five. And my mom was a nurse here she was Charge Nurse to the ER on the night shift my whole life at Holy Family, which is a local hospital. They just got their maintenance status like two weeks ago. So that's really exciting. So it's on my shortlist of where to go when I'm done with school.

I've always been someone who liked helping people. So I got a job as a CNA. Well, first as a Nursing Assistant Registered, so a Nurse Aide basically, and then I put myself through CNA while I was pregnant with my daughter, and I was going to school, and I got my AA and did all my nursing prereqs to get into the nursing program here. And... But I had Olivia, about two days before the next cohort started of nursing students. And I remember like sitting up at home with her at night and feeding her in the middle of the night. And it just like started crying. It's like, "You're not going to school two days, what was I thinking?" You know, I worked so hard for that spot.

So we decided to focus more on my husband's business. He's from here also, he was born and raised out actually out here in this area where we live. And we focused on building up his plumbing business. And I just worked as a CNA for the last 15 years. And when my kids got to elementary school, I wanted to, I knew I wanted to go back and finish. But I needed to still work. I couldn't afford to not work and go to school. So I thought, "Well, the minute they're in school during the day, I can work at night and go to school during the day." And so when my son got into first grade, and he was gone during the day, that was my chance to reapply to go back to school. And I went and I reapplied for that program. And they were like, "You have to redo everything you've ever done. Basically."

I'm like, "What are you talking about? This piece of paper is from you. I earned it here. All these prereqs are from you." They said, "It's all too old, you start from scratch, do everything over." So I remember thinking I don't have another year and a half to do all those classes over. So I just got really dejected with the idea and I kept working. I decided to go back to school and I applied to three programs. I had to redo all those prerequisites, I got four points on everything. I have 15 years of experience as a CNA, I have community service, all sorts of things that they required on the application, the only thing I could have had points for that I didn't was veteran status. And I still didn't get in.

There's just too few spots for how many teachers they have and so I was waitlisted. I also applied to North Idaho College, which told me I missed a signature on page six reapply next semester. And then WSU only takes... They are the only BSN program in this area and they are they take feeders from three different schools. So Whitworth, Eastern Washington University, WSU, they all use that nursing program. And then I'm considered a transfer applicant since I already have an AA. So I'm on the bottom of the priority list. So I did not get in. And I was kind of like, "This is just never going to happen!" But I think you could choose to look at things like that is signs telling you not to do something. But that's what you're looking for. Right? Because you want confirmation of something. So I chose to look at it as a chance to -- As a chance to prove to myself I could. At the time when I first did my prereqs, Nightingale wasn't up here in our area. And so when I finished my prereqs, I was looking again, when I had gotten denied from the other three schools, it was it had a new campus and quarterly and my friend told me about it. And I was on that like that. That was it. So here I am.

I don't know if I could have done it any other way, especially in this time. COVID happened, which wasn't a thing when I first applied. And then it was a thing and all of a sudden I had two kids. Washington had a pretty severe lockdown. So I had two kids home from school. Let's see, they were in fourth and first grade. And they were an all online learning here at home. And I was doing online learning too. So it's like three people in classes on webinars at all times during the day, helping my son with his math, helping my daughter with her homework while I'm in here doing my homework. And while I'm on a webinar shouldn't you know shouldn't you be quiet? Everyone's got headphones on. We're all like checking in with each other. I don't know how, like a lot of my friends who were in different programs and people I know even in nursing groups on Facebook and stuff across the country were getting their clinicals shut down. They were getting their schools shut down and here we were in this really locked down state. But I was able to keep going. When I saw other people were being put a semester or two behind or not being able to give their clinical hours, and I was able to just keep going, which was huge. It was huge.

Being able to do my work whenever I can, I'm really busy, and I have a lot going on every single day. So if I'm working night shift, then I can come home and do a lesson online, you know, before I get my kids off to school in the morning, or once they're out the door, I can take a nap and then do my class or then write my paper. I can work on that on my lunch break and two in the morning. And if you are in a more traditional program, which A, there aren't enough to go around, there aren't enough spots to go around. They're hard to get into obviously, because I had a hell of a time myself. But you're kind of locked into that set schedule. And time is like so valuable. And I don't have to drive to and from school every day. I don't have to waste an hour parking. The same reason why I workout at home, I don't have an hour to get to the gym, I don't have time to get a daycare. Someone to watch my kids while I go. Being able to go like just get it done here and consolidate and make this my classroom, this the only place I have to go set up my space and work here do whatever whatever portions I can online and still have the in person portions.

I think a lot of people worry about that part. Because I'm a very visual like and kinesthetic learner hands-on. I want to get my hands dirty, I want to learn by doing and seeing. So you can tell me on a webinar how to do something 10 times, but if I can do it myself once, I'll never forget. So having the skills kits and being able to do things here, work through it as many times as I need to on my little virtual patient doll thing -- His name is "Justin Bleeder" -- Anyway, getting a practice like putting an IV on him, you know, working with ostomy supplies working with trach tubes. I have an IV blood administration video to do later tonight. And I just think that that flexibility has been huge for me for being able to be successful in this program. I don't know if it would have gone so well in a traditional program. And when I was at first disappointed to not get into the one I had applied to now I almost feel like it was meant to be this way. Because this worked out better.

I think my kids are a huge support to my daughter will nag me she will say, "That does not look like your homework mom!" Like if I'm on my phone. She, they always ask me how I did on my tests. They're the first ones to cheer when I get a good grade or good score. She's in seventh or sixth grade this year. So it's the first time she's got like ABCD grades. And she gets now how cool it is that I've gotten straight A's all along because she was working for her own for the first time this year. I joke a lot that she and I will probably graduate at the same time. But that's probably not going to happen. But maybe. But like they're my biggest motivation to, you know, they say, "What's your why that makes you want to cry?" Like that's how you know it's your real, "Why."

It's finishing is showing them like that I can finish something -- That I can do something -- Finish something that I set out to do a long time ago. You know what I tell her when I stopped school nursing school when she when she was born. I don't ever want her to feel guilt for that because it was a choice I made. But I do, you know, I do have friends that kept going in school while I stopped and raised my kids and and I wouldn't trade a single minute a single day, I wouldn't have the relationship with them now had I not taken that time with them. But it does kind of sting a little bit to be like, "Gosh, I should be where you are." You know? So for me finishing this and showing them that it's never too late to finish something that you set your mind to. It's never too late to go back to school and accomplish a goal that you set for yourself is, is a huge thing. So whatever I do taking care of them they give back to me 100 times in how they support me while I'm in school.