Sloan Semester

Have you ever thought about why we all think differently from one another? Most of us find friends that we relate to that have similar core beliefs and values, yet no two people are exactly the same. We all have experienced different upbringing and have encountered different experiences. It is amazing to me how different children raised in the same family can be from one another. My two daughters are only eighteen months apart in age and were raised under the same roof, yet in many ways it is like they come from different planets.

My oldest daughter has always loved learning. She is very intelligent and has performed academically very well. She did so well in her high school courses that she was allowed to take college level classes. By the time she actually entered college she was able to start at a sophomore level because she had completed her freshmen classes her senior year of high school. She had a few good friends. She did not enjoy very many extra circular activities because she preferred to study. My younger daughter preferred to do any social activity that she could instead of studying. She received average grades because she did not put a great deal of effort into her school work. When she graduated from high school her grades were not good enough to go directly into college. She told her father and me that she wanted to go to a practical school of nursing. Some of her friends worked at the local nursing home and she thought it would be fun to work there also. One of her friends told her that if she completed the eleven month course at the practical school of nursing and came to work at the nursing home, the facility would pay for her to get her four year degree as a registered nurse. She thought this would be great because she could find out if she wanted a career in nursing prior to putting in four years, and she would not have to pay for the degree.

Her father and I thought this sounded too good to be true so we told her we would help her research this further, rather than just listening to her friends. We contacted the practical school of nursing, which is a department in the local vocational college. The dean of the practical school of nursing confirmed that many health care facilities will help pay a student’s way through school in exchange for a five year contract that they will work at the facility. There is a shortage of nurses so this is a good incentive program. Many times nursing facilities cannot compete with the higher wages offered by hospitals so this is a way for them to get registered nurses to stay in the facility for a longer period of time. Our daughter is very set on doing this, so she is starting the licensed practical nursing courses in the fall.