Working Mom Works Toward BSN
Ebone Roberts sure knows how to keep life interesting. Between her nursing job at Atrium Health Urgent Care – University City and caring for her four children (and a puppy), you wouldn’t think there’d be time for much else. But Ebone’s desire to advance her career was so strong, she decided to add just one more element to her life: a bachelor’s degree.
“I think it may be helpful for others to see that it is possible to juggle working full time and attending school full time as well as managing a family,” she says.
Like many others, Ebone jumped into the healthcare field looking to make a difference in the lives of patients and their families. She started her healthcare journey as a certified nursing assistant in 2003, became a certified medical assistant in 2006 and then became a registered nurse after graduating from the (former) Mercy School of Nursing in 2010.
In 2019, she decided it was time to take that next step forward in her career and settled on the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program (RN-BSN) at Carolinas College of Health Sciences. She enrolled in August of last year.
“I chose Carolinas College because I know they are a part of such a huge hospital system that is intentional about everything that it assigns its name to, so I was confident that it would be a great program,” she says. “It has lived up to that standard.”
Plus, Ebone had already been exposed to the college during her associate degree nursing program at Mercy School of Nursing, since she took some of her classes at Carolinas College. “I remembered how much the teachers wanted to help students excel and succeed,” she says. “That culture has remained.”
Launched in 2018, the RN-BSN is the college’s first bachelor’s program, and the first cohort of students graduated in May. The program is completely online and includes a mix of nursing courses and higher-level general education courses to prepare nurses for an evolving healthcare environment.
Plus, Atrium Health teammates may be eligible for financial aid programs such as Educational Assistance or Loan Forgiveness, which means nurses can get their BSN at a low cost.
For Ebone, the entire experience has added up to a challenging, yet rewarding experience.
“This program has required me to think critically and forced me to look at things from different perspectives. It has given me a broader outlook as a person and as a nurse,” she says.
Set to graduate in the summer of 2021, Ebone can’t wait to reap the benefits of her new degree, knowing it’ll mean even bigger and better things for herself, her family and the people she works with and cares for.
“I love the people! I have some of the BEST coworkers and manager in the system,” she says. “I also love being able to care for so many diverse patients that trust coming to a well-respected hospital system.”