Andreea’s Nursing Professional Journey
By Andreea Baker, Assistant Director of Health and Wellness at Doane University
My nursing journey was one that I did not initially expect. When I graduated from high school, I thought that I wanted to be a journalist. I went to a community college to play basketball and started taking journalism classes along with humanities general education courses. After 2 years, and with less than 12 hours from getting my associate’s degree, I decided that I wanted to use my passion for caring for others, and I decided that I was going to become a pediatric oncology nurse. Since my previous major was journalism, I had not taken many science classes. I started my year-and-a-half journey to get all my required prerequisite classes completed prior to starting nursing school.
Nursing school with a young child was not always easy. Clinicals started at 0600 and were at a variety of different locations, and then I would have two days per week with 4–6 hours of classes during those two days. Generally, I would also work 16–20 hours at the hospital after being in clinicals or classes. I felt like I was eternally at the hospital and wasn’t able to spend as much time at home as I wanted. I am beyond grateful for the support of my husband and our families so that I could successfully complete my Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing in May 2009 from Bryan College of Health Sciences.
Before I graduated from nursing school, I knew that I wanted to be an educator and, specifically, a nursing faculty member. I started my Masters of Science in Nursing Education program shortly after my graduation at the College of Saint Mary’s in Omaha. I had taken two semesters of classes, and then one of my previous professors reached out to me to let me know that Bryan College of Health Sciences was going to start its own Masters of Science in Nursing Education. I was able to continue working the night shift at a hospital in Lincoln, taking hybrid classes. I graduated with the first class from Bryan College of Health Sciences in December 2013.
While I was in the process of finishing my last semester of my MSN, I was looking for a job to bridge the gap between my floor nursing job and finding a job as a nursing faculty. I found a job opening in college health, and I have been a college health nurse for the past 10 years. When I got into my college health role, I knew that was where I was meant to be, and I’m so grateful that I have been able to use my clinical skills along with my education skills while working to keep students healthy and help them achieve their academic goals!
The blog posts in Forward. Together. are intended to foster an inclusive community of empathy and curiosity at Doane University by providing a glimpse into various individual identities and worldviews. These are community members’ unique stories and should not be presumed to be the experience of all who share the same identity.
