LEARNER SUCCESS STORY
A professional dancer returns to school to pursue a second career
“I always wanted to be a dancer or a doctor. I’ve been a professional dancer since I was fourteen years old. I graduated from high school when I was almost fifteen. I went on tour with my dance company, and that kept me really busy. I took a few college credits, but my head wasn’t there. I was just really into my dancing,” explained Carissa Hernandez.
“As I got older, I became a mom and I still dance part-time and I teach, but I wanted to go for my other dream. That inspired me to go back to school, although it’s a little harder now that I have three kids.”
Carissa, a student at Nevada State College and mother of three girls aged six, four, and six months, is a sophomore studying nursing. For her second career, she dreams of working as a nurse practitioner in a hospital after she earns her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. “A nurse practitioner is the closest to being a doctor that I felt I could handle with my family circumstances,” she explained.
Juggling school, work, and her family, Carissa is taking a combination of online and face-to-face classes. “I prefer the online classes,” she commented. “It’s not always easy for me with my husband’s work schedule to find the time to break away to go to a traditional class. Online classes have really helped me. I can do them at my own pace, when I can squeeze in an hour or so here and there.”
For many of Carissa’s face-to-face classes, her professors are using online learning programs to engage students in the subject matter and help them master the content. Her Medical Terminology professor assigned homework in MyMedicalTerminologyLabTM and graded students on how many activities they completed in the program. “I found the activities quite fun because it was more of a game environment,” Carissa commented. “I would try to challenge myself to beat a certain time or a certain score. It made learning fun.”
MyMedicalTerminologyLab made learning a lot more fun than studying a textbook or reading flashcards.
Carissa used MasteringA&PTM, another online learning program, in two of her biology courses. The program was not required, but Carissa thought it was beneficial. “I found that using the different modules, the games, and the diagrams really helped me understand the material.”
“I use a lot of the diagrams, especially when I’m trying to label different areas of the body. I’m doing the cardiovascular system now. When I need to label different areas of the heart, I know more or less where things are located.”
She also uses the program to study for tests. “I always use it as an aid to gauge where I’m at and what I need to focus on more. It really helps me narrow down the areas where I’m a little bit weaker. It’s a huge study tool for me, and I use it often.”
Carissa credits the programs with helping her earn As in her courses. Given her full plate, Carissa is able to take only two courses per semester, but she is determined to follow her dream even though it will take longer than usual to earn her degrees. Her advice to students pursuing a second career is this: “If you really want something, you will find a way.”
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