{"id":143,"date":"2016-05-02T21:05:03","date_gmt":"2016-05-02T21:05:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stories.kera.org\/class-of-17\/?p=143"},"modified":"2017-05-26T19:09:47","modified_gmt":"2017-05-26T19:09:47","slug":"family-charts-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/class-of-17\/2016\/05\/02\/family-charts-the-future\/","title":{"rendered":"The Long Road To Becoming A Nurse"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s crunch time for high school juniors to start figuring out what\u2019s next after graduation. Kelli Bowdy already knows what she wants to do \u2014 she wants to be a nurse. It’s something she’s known since eighth grade. Her family, though, is split on where she should go to college.
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Kelli\u2019s Fort Worth high school, O.D. Wyatt<\/a>, sits seven miles south of downtown, where students are almost evenly split between African Americans and Hispanics. Three-quarters of the 1,200 students at Wyatt qualify as low-income.<\/p>\n

Wyatt is also a Gold Seal School of Choice<\/a>, so it offers career courses in construction, auto mechanics and\u00a0 Kelli\u2019s key interest \u2014 nursing.<\/p>\n

Kelli is listening to her teacher during her first class of the day.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow much time do you have with CPR before permanent brain damage?” the instructor asks.
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\u201cSix minutes,” the class says.
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“Six minutes,” the teacher says.
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Kelli has talked about being a nurse for a lot longer than six minutes.<\/p>\n

As an eighth\u00a0grader, she started dreaming it might happen after she helped care for her nephew, who was born premature. Now, she seems more locked in.<\/p>\n

\"Kelli

Kelli Bowdy practices infant choking rescue on a mannequin in the Nursing Assistance Program as part of the Health Science and Technology Program of Choice at O. D. Wyatt High School in Fort Worth. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/p><\/div>\n

A Love Of Nursing<\/h5>\n

Kelli has shown immense progress in the program, based on feedback from her teachers and the school’s guidance counselors, said Javetta Jones-Roberson, who oversees O.D. Wyatt’s programs of choice.<\/p>\n

Through Wyatt’s nursing program,\u00a0Kelli takes health, science and first aid classes. By the time she graduates, she can get CPR and OSHA certification, and become a certified nursing assistant \u2014 a CNA. That would give her a leg up in college.<\/p>\n

\u201cCPR definitely matters,” Jones-Roberson said. “So all of our students have to have CPR certification … as part of their admission requirement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ceil Flores is the assistant dean of enrollment at the University of Texas at Arlington\u2019s Nursing School, one of the biggest in Texas. Of the school\u2019s 50,000 campus and online students, about 20,000 \u2014\u00a040 percent \u2014 are in nursing.<\/p>\n

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Program of Choice Coordinator Javetta Jones-Roberson, left, gives Kelli Bowdy a hug at O.D. Wyatt High School in Fort Worth. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201c[Kelli] could also work in the field as a CNA, a patient-care technician, to help fund her school, to help work on time-management, to help learn to interact with patients,” Flores said.<\/p>\n

Once the nursing bug bit,\u00a0 Kelli was hooked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to work at Cook’s,” she said. “I want to work with children.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cook Children\u2019s is Fort Worth\u2019s hospital for kids. To work there, Kelli needs to go to college first, but O.D. Wyatt gives her a head start.<\/p>\n

“I want to get out on my own and get a feel of the real world.\u201d
Kelli Bowdy, high school junior<\/div>
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Family Influences Kelli’s Future<\/h5>\n

When she\u2019s a senior, Kelli will take classes at Tarrant County College. The school is an option after high school.<\/p>\n

But Kelli\u2019s got bigger dreams. When she graduates, she wants to go to UT-Arlington.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was looking at their nursing programs and they have a lot of nursing opportunities out there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"Kelli

“I want to get out on my own and get a feel of the real world,” Kelli Bowdy says.\u00a0Photo\/Lara Solt<\/p><\/div>\n

Kelli is also looking at TCU, Baylor, Angelo State and Texas A&M.<\/p>\n

Her dad, Calvin Bowdy, wants her close to home.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m kind of concerned on her being off by herself,” he said. “I would feel more comfortable about her starting with community college \u2018cause she\u2019s closer, and if anything happens, I can get to her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Calvin and Kelli\u2019s mom divorced 10 years ago. Kelli lives with her mother. On a quiet Fort Worth block of small, older homes and cars, one with a smashed back windshield, is Calvin\u2019s house. He lives there with his second wife, their family and his father.<\/p>\n

Calvin is protective.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy biggest thing \u2014 my kids being off and needing me, and I can\u2019t get to them as quick as I need to be,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Kelli is ready to break free \u2014 and live independently on campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cParents, like, sometimes they get tired of taking care of the children,” Kelli said. “You have to grow up at some point. So I want to get out on my own and get a feel of the real world.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cShe\u2019s been saving up since 2007, 2008. She\u2019s been saving up for me to go to college. Because that\u2019s like her main dream is for me to go to college and graduate from college.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelli Bowdy, high school junior, about her grandmother<\/div>
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That warms the heart of Kelli\u2019s grandmother, Minnie Hodge. The retired Fort Worth school district employee is the academic force in Kelli\u2019s life. Her mother didn\u2019t go to college, and neither did her dad. But Hodge went to Texas A&M \u2014 she hopes Kelli does, too. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Kelli

Kelli Bowdy practices infant choking rescue on a mannequin. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s so much better, you know?” Hodge said. Because I was going to be a nurse, and I\u2019ve done the nursing (thing), and she went with me in there. So I\u2019m not putting her down for it. I want her to do and be better. But you see, me, I have high expectations. And I know how gifted she is. And I know what she could do with that. She could be over the nurses, you know what I\u2019m saying?\u201d<\/p>\n

Before any of that, Kelli has to take the SAT and\u00a0get accepted, and do well. Aspiring nurses at UT-Arlington don\u2019t even declare a major until sophomore\u00a0year. The higher the GPA and the more science classes the better, said Flores, the nursing school assistant dean.<\/p>\n

Then, there\u2019s tuition. Neither Kelli\u2019s mom nor dad have much money. Kelli said that\u2019s where her grandma may help.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s been saving up since 2007, 2008,” Kelli said. “She\u2019s been saving up for me to go to college. Because that\u2019s like her main dream is for me to go to college and graduate from college.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sometimes, a relative\u2019s dream becomes a child\u2019s burden. In Kelli’s case, it’s an inspiration.<\/p>\n\n

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    Kelli Bowdy and Program of Choice Coordinator Javetta Jones-Roberson, right, talk in the halls of O. D. Wyatt High School in Fort Worth. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
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    Program of Choice Coordinator Javetta Jones-Roberson, left, and Kelli Bowdy. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
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    Kelli Bowdy wants to be a nurse. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
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    Kelli Bowdy practices infant choking rescue on a mannequin in the Nursing Assistance Program. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
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    Kelli is a part of the Nursing Assistance Program at O. D. Wyatt High School in Fort Worth. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
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    Students use mannequins to learn how to save infants from choking in Kelli Bowdy's Nursing Assistance Program. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n