Simone Everett knew she always wanted to get into nursing. Inspired by her mom, Simone was working as a certified nursing assistant until she decided to take a leap and go for her nursing degree.
“My mom always wanted to go to nursing school and was never able to do it so she encouraged me that if it’s what I really want, then I should do it,” Simone said. “I realized what other opportunities I could have with a nursing degree, like public health, so that was really appealing to me.”
Now a recent graduate with her associate degree of nursing from American Career College-Los Angeles, Simone is looking toward growing at her current hospital and seeing where her nursing career takes her.
“I’ve worked so hard for this and I’m ready to get into my career as a nurse,” Simone said. “I wanted to be able to help patients more and going back for my degree helped me gain more experience.”
Although the past year was challenging with the switch to distance learning amid the pandemic, Simone stayed focused on her goal.
“There was a low point for me when we switched to distance learning but the teachers were really supportive and helped us get through it,” she said. “I liked that ACC was fast paced, that they weren’t putting me on the waitlist, the staff was supportive and helping me get through it.”
Simone plans on working as a nurse in her hospital to gain more experience but has plans to work in public health in the future.
“I really want to work in public health and in my community and I’d like to work with an organization that supports sexual health education,” Simone said.
