Graduation

{April 28th, 2011}

I had the opportunity to graduate with my Associates in Nursing from Utah Valley University in April. I did not walk with the school but instead participated in the Pinning Ceremony my class had. We listened to our keynote speaker who sculpted Florence Nightingale's face while he talked, heard talents from our classmates, enjoyed talks from students and faculty, and of course were pinned by an RN to signify our step into the professional world.

Unfortunately for us, we still had to take the NCLEX after this and most of us are starting school back up for another year to finish our Bachelors, so it didn't really feel like I was done. Because let's face it. I'm not. But that's ok. It was a reason to party anyway!

My family thought it would be fun to let me be the tallest for a change....

they think they're so funny!

Shout out to Justina who pretty much dragged me along behind her in school. She was always on top of EVERYTHING and she kept me up to date on assignments and tests and all things important! Couldn't have done this without her.

And of course a shout out to my sweet hubby. School is so busy that sometimes he gets neglected, but he's always with me 100%. Thanks for supporting me and wanting me to chase my dreams and be my best. I couldn't love you more!

{July 5th, 2011}

On this note, I took my boards (NCLEX) on Tuesday, July 5th and boy was that an adventure. Testing begins at 8am in Draper so we are told to arrive at 7:30am to allow for enough time to check in. We all get there and just sit and wait without much explanation as to why. Finally the guy running the show explained that he needed another TA there to start our exam and unfortunately said TA was no where to be found and not answering her phone.

The man with the plan told us that we would wait until 8:30 and see if we hear from her. If we hadn't at that point then we would all be required to reschedule. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? We've all been up from the crack of dawn, been studying our eyeballs out, are DYING to get this test over with, and several people had traveled from far distances to take this dreaded test. We were not excited about the thought of needing to reschedule.

Literally at about 8:29am, front desk man, received a call from this absent TA who said she could arrive by 9am. We all emphatically agree that we'd love to stay until 9 as opposed to rescheduling. Well I don't know if she was out late partying or what but she finally makes it in a little after 9 apologetic but with no good excuse. Oh well, at least we can take this test. Because I was at the end of the line to get checked in, I didn't get to sit at my computer until almost 10am.

At this point I was just praying that I would not fail but I was rather flustered from having to wait so long and my brain was starting to turn off. The test is rather painful because you have no idea how many questions you are going to get. They just keep popping up until it deems you incompetent or worthy to receive your nursing license. It took a torturous 3+ hours before my computer finally decided it had had enough of me and could either declare me hopeless or a person who can provide safe and effective nursing care.

Luckily I was the latter.

I was scared out of my mind until I got the results two days later and could think of plenty of excuses as to why I would have failed, but fortunately those were not necessary! What a relief. I can't hardly even remember a time that I had felt that free. Our boards have been hanging over us since we started the program and now they are finally GONE! Yay! Now just one more year of school and I'll be free again. I can hardly wait!