Founders

Shannon Smith

I have been an RN for over 20 years.  Being an RN was a life dream that did not come easily for me.  Like some, I had many obstacles and challenges thrown my way during my college days.  Because of my home life and lack of support, I had to work really hard to pay for my education, housing, and day to day living expenses while attending school. It was not an easy time in my life but I was determined and nothing was going to stop me.  As a result, it took me 9 years to complete my prerequisites and nursing school at the local community college.

Luckily, I received a little bit of financial help during my first semester of nursing school.  It made a huge difference as it allowed more time for me to focus on my studies.  I no longer needed to work two, and sometimes three jobs, to get by with all of my expenses.  When I look back now, I honestly do not think I could have survived nursing school without that financial help.  The demands of nursing school is very stressful and consumed all of my time.  I can remember the countless hours spent studying with my study group, going to clinicals, sitting through lectures in the classroom, and working on care plans every week.

When I finally graduated, I felt truly accomplished but my educational journey was not yet finished.  I need to first get started on my nursing career and transition from a new grad to an experienced nurse.  While becoming an experienced nurse takes many years, I allowed myself about a year and a half to build up my nursing skills and experience before hitting the books again.  I went back to school and earned my BSN while working full time.  It wasn’t easy to juggle work and school again, but I was determined.  At the time, I was working at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and they paid for my tuition in full.  In addition, I was given an additional $250 annually for additional educational costs.  This money was allocated to textbooks, which helped tremendously.