As the state of health care and the needs of the population continues to evolve, so has the profession of nursing. In order to meet the increasing needs of the public, there has been a push for diploma and Associate’s Degree-educated nurses to further their education to the baccalaureate level and beyond. It took a while for myself to oblige, but in 2011, ten years after I received my Associate’s degree in nursing, I decided to go back to school to pursue my Baccalaureate Degree in the Science of Nursing. And I decided to go back to the very school that started it all for me: New York City College of Technology, located in Brooklyn, New York.

Upon enrolling in the baccalaureate program, I was a bit skeptical about the curricula, and what I would be able to take away from the experience. I also felt a bit apprehensive about being back in the school environment, and would I be able to keep up with some of the newer nurses since I had taken such a long hiatus. Upon my first day in class, I realized how much had changed since 2001; nursing sections were filled with three times the amount of students, classes were hybrid with online components, and due to current trends in nursing, most of my classmates were new graduates experiencing significant difficulties in finding employment. I decided to use my hiatus from academia as a strong attribute by putting my absolute all into assignments and tasks, and by serving as a role model to the younger nurses in the program, all while maintaining humility.

I must say that I was really fortunate to be actively working while pursuing my BSN; it was advantageous to me because I was able to correlate the concepts being taught directly to my experiences on a day-by-day basis, which further enhanced my learning. For example, while I was enrolled in my Nursing Research course, I attended a Nursing Research conference at my place of employment and listened to presentations of a vast variety of research studies and designs, which really made me grasp the importance of research concepts and evidence-based practice. Throughout the BSN program, I always attempted to “connect the dots” between the school and workplace environments, using the courses I was enrolled in to influence my workplace, while simultaneously using experiences at my place of employment to help foster my learning during the program.

Now that I’m at the point of near completion of the BSN program, I can say that I truly understand why attaining the baccalaureate level of learning is so important for nursing professionals. Undergoing the BSN curricula has given me a more broad and worldly view of nursing as a whole, and the ways in which we can have a macro impact on the health of the public. I now realize that we as health care professionals serve as leaders, regardless of our positions of employment, or if we are even employed at all. Nursing extends beyond the walls of the hospital, as care of the public will undoubtedly move more into the community setting. I also learned about the relevance of public health, and how practically all issues of humanity have an effect on the well-being of the population. Most importantly, I learned throughout the BSN program experience that the future of health care is largely contingent on us as professionals, and we must always be willing to grow as professionals in order to ensure the delivery of safe, accessible and quality health care to every and all. Truly, my journey to the BSN degree has been invaluable to my professional development and nursing experience.