Page 14 - University of Martland Nursing Forum - Winter 2017

NEWS
KConway Spotlight: Karla Armijo, BSN ’16, RN
arla Armijo, BSN ’16, RN, She entered the University of Maryland managing her time (and doing it well— is well aware of the School of Nursing’s Bachelor of Science in she’s made the dean’s list and is a mem- responsibility that comes Nursing program as a part-time student ber of UMSON’s Pi Chapter of the Sigma with being the first in a in fall 2015, once her second daughter Theta Tau International honor society)
family to earn a bachelor’s degree. was born. But she realized that finishing by taking her classes exclusively online.
“I feel that I have that pressure of continuing with succeeding in my career,” she says. “I want my children to know that education is No. 1. My 5-year-old looks
up to me a lot. I know that little by little, it’ll set a great example and set values and goals for them.”
When Armijo’s oldest daughter
was 3, Armijo was working to earn
her Associate Degree in Nursing at Montgomery College in Takoma Park, Maryland, managing life as a single parent while her husband, now a veteran, was stationed in Texas. Despite the demands on her schedule, she graduated with her associate degree in 2014, and a month later, she learned she was pregnant with her second daughter.
12 WINTER 2017
her classes faster meant she’d be able to accelerate her career, too.
She applied for the School’s Conway Scholarship, which covers tuition, fees, and books for students who meet certain financial qualifications.
“I was really happy to get the scholarship to go full time,” she says. “It’s helped out a lot financially. Having
a family, two kids, everything we have
to pay, it gave me the opportunity to
go full time so I was able to finish quickly and not put my career on hold.”
And she got started even before earning her degree. Last February, she began working three consecutive 12-hour night shifts in the maternity ward at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, Maryland,
“They were looking for new nurses without any experience, so I knew
that was going to be a big help and big opportunity, especially for my family, with the new baby and only having one income from my husband,” she says.
As a recent graduate, she has continued working at Holy Cross but has plans for the future. “Later on, I’d like to advance my career even further,” she says, although she hasn’t yet decided how. The scholarship, she says, has made it all possible. “I would like to thank the Conways for everything they’ve done,” she continues. “Giving me the opportunity has been a true blessing. This is why I was able to earn my bachelor’s degree.”
—G.S.
MIKE CIESIELSKI