How Cynthia Johnson Invested in Herself

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For Cynthia Johnson, being a nurse was all she ever wanted to do. She became a certified nursing assistant in high school and loved working with patients. Marriage and motherhood came soon after graduation and Cynthia directed all of her energy to those important jobs. But the dream of being a nurse never died.

She had a chance to fulfill that dream about five years ago. Her husband became ill and could no longer work. Others encouraged her to look into becoming a nurse before accepting one or two minimum-wage jobs that would barely keep her family afloat.

“We had two children. I could have found a job and we would have barely made it. I wanted to do more for them. I also wanted to show them that, if I could go to college, they could, too.”

Johnson began taking her prerequisites at Walters State’s Claiborne County Center for Higher Education in New Tazewell.
“I wasn’t sure of myself and I had been out of school for a long time, so the first semester I just took one class. It was algebra, a developmental studies class. I loved it and I made an A. The professor was great and that gave me confidence,” Cynthia said.

Cynthia graduated near the top of her nursing class in 2006. She didn’t even have to look for a job. A hospital where she had done her clinical training offered her a position before she graduated.

Learn about other students who invested in themselves

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