Recent Nursing Graduates Look Forward to New Challenges

Achieving the Dream

For every individual who enters the nursing field, there’s a story. Sometimes, several stories.

They involve everything from the people and circumstances that inspired them to choose this profession to the challenges that had to be overcome on the way to earning their degree and then starting their first shift; from how the dream of becoming a nurse is often deferred, for any of myriad reasons, to how those dreams were kept alive and eventually fulfilled.

These storylines, and many others, are captured in the profiles of four recent nursing graduates presented in what is now our annual salute to nurses.

The profiles below, both intriguing and inspirational, involve women who got into nursing somewhat later in life, after experiencing other professions — everything from the military to paramedic work — and raising children.

Their stories are all different, but there are some common denominators, especially the ability to overcome challenges and make the dream of becoming a nurse reality — at a time when an influx of young nursing talent is more needed than ever.

Read Their Stories:

Kristen Racine-Melendez

Faith Ackerman

Abby Candee

Roxana Toledo