New York City native May Terry is serious about pursuing education and donating her time.
“When I started doing some volunteer work, I saw a number of nurse practitioners who were pretty good — some were volunteers, some were full staff,” she said. “It inspired me to do inner-city work as a volunteer and help those who are disadvantaged.”
Now, Terry is feeding her passions as a student in the online Registered Nurse to Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at William Paterson University.
“Being a nurse practitioner might give me the ability to be involved in more advanced nursing,” she said. “This program gives me a nice opportunity to do that and balance my job, home and school.”
Terry holds a full-time position as a health informatics principal at the MITRE Corporation, based in Massachusetts. She lives in Springfield, New Jersey, and works remotely.
“We are a nonprofit organization,” she said. “Our customers are mostly in government. We manage federally funded research and development centers and create healthcare tech solutions.”
Since she enrolled in the online RN to BSN program in Spring 2021, the flexibility of the online format helps Terry have enough time for schoolwork without slowing down her busy schedule.
“It is working out well,” she said. “I understand how difficult it is for a number of folks who have two-year degrees and are balancing work and home.
“Nurses often don’t have 9-to-5 jobs; their schedules are crazy. Having an education path like this is a great opportunity. So far, the William Paterson online format allows me to have that work/life balance.”
Amped Up
Terry zeroed in on a career path after high school. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Miami (FL) in 1991.
“After 9/11, I decided I would donate my time, so I joined a first-aid squad as a volunteer EMT while I was working full time,” she said. “I really enjoyed helping others as a healthcare provider but I wanted to remain technical in my career. Someone turned me onto nursing informatics, which was a young field at the time.”
Terry, returned to school part-time while still working as an engineer for Cisco Systems, and graduated with an Associate Degree in Nursing from Mercer County Community College in 2005. Three years later, she added a master’s degree in medical informatics from Northwestern University.
“I am a big proponent of public schooling,” she said. “I had an engineering degree and worked in several industries. I never left the tech industry in some ways — I complemented it with the nursing degree.”
Having already earned her first master’s degree online, Terry knew what to look for while seeking out an RN to BSN program.
“I knew what was good and not so good online,” she said. “I asked pointed questions about that environment.”
The responses gave Terry insight into the RN-to-BSN curriculum, the software and the approach.
“I liked the curriculum and the outreach that the education and recruiting team had at William Paterson. The experience of some of their nursing curriculum educators is extensive. It’s a nice, well-rounded faculty.”
So far, Terry has completed four courses in the program, but she is eager to broaden her horizons with the remainder of the information to come.
“I am open-minded about all aspects of nursing,” she said. “There are some I am more familiar with, but the RN to BSN curriculum has a lot of uses. It’s centered on policy and management.
“Those are the things that make it worthwhile. You learn the foundation in the two-year program, but you learn about the impact and community health nursing, policy level and management level in the bachelor’s program.”
Magnetic Moments
Focusing on one course at a time makes the online RN to BSN especially enjoyable for Terry, who is on track to complete the program in October 2022.
“How nursing applies to different areas is exciting,” she said. “It’s manageable and more of an enriching experience to focus on one class at a time.
“The professors present the material in a way that has nurses thinking critically, not just clinically, in terms of the implications of their work on all of those policies and management levels.
“There’s value and enrichment in that. It’s a level of learning that makes you think outside of the box, which I really appreciate.”
Terry says her friends and family are 100% behind her latest return to higher education — especially because of the motivation.
“They are excited, but I always find a reason to get more education,” she said. “They are more excited because of the sense of volunteerism that I have.”
Once Terry completes the bachelor’s degree program, she plans to take the rest of the year off before enrolling in a Master of Science in Nursing program in January 2023.
“The nursing I do in health informatics has huge value,” she said. “In the future, nurses will have to keep building and embracing technology that’s out there, getting more into the data scientist piece and applying nursing to it.”
Terry, who enjoys gaming and playing guitar in her free time, also thrives on the interactions with her classmates in the online RN to BSN program.
“In some ways, it’s more work than being in a classroom because you have to learn more actively,” she said. “As you go through the course and think critically, you have to be more involved in the forum-based interactions.
“The best way to learn in an online program is from each other. That’s why there are discussion topics — it’s meant to be an interactive dialogue. I have been learning a lot in the program. It has great educational value. I am happy to be going to William Paterson.”
Learn more about William Paterson University’s online RN to BSN program.
