When Katherine Poteat first visited Shoreline College, she was struck by the natural beauty of the campus, and it held a lasting place in her memory. “I always felt like the school seemed to live within the forest and nature, giving it a neat environmental feel,” she shared. At the time, she was a middle school student, participating in the Science Olympiad, a nationwide youth STEM competition. “Bridging was my favorite challenge. It involved making the lightest, strongest bridge from balsa and basswood, then testing to see if it could withstand up to fifty pounds of sand without breaking. Seeing how well a bridge performed was always exciting.”
Katherine’s love of science led her to become a science teacher. However, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she found a new sense of calling in her life. “Growing up, my father gave me a deep sense of service. When COVID happened, I used the time to complete nursing prerequisites and apply to a nursing program. Shoreline College has a very positive reputation in our healthcare community. It made my decision to return to Shoreline as a student easy.”
Returning to school for a new career while balancing jobs, family, and other responsibilities can be challenging. Yet, like those bridges she made at the Science Olympiad, Katherine found strong support structures that kept her from breaking and helped her achieve her dream.
Initially, Katherine used savings to cover costs, but she soon realized she’d underestimated how long her savings would last. She feared she might not be able to afford her dream of becoming a nurse. “To be successful, full-time nursing school necessitates part-time work hours, especially when family factors in. Unfortunately, this created a financial burden. All I could afford was my basic living expenses and the transportation costs.”
Katherine didn’t give up. She reached out to her instructors who helped her find financial assistance resources, discounted study materials, and other options to help her succeed.
One of her instructors recommended that she look at Worker Retraining, which offers state-funded support to qualifying students pursuing new career paths. Katherine received tuition assistance that covered three of the five remaining quarters in her program. With this support in place, she was able to better focus on her studies.
“Shoreline employs such wonderful nursing professors, willing to talk over questions, providing extra support when needed. I had access to tutoring and student accessibility services. And they made sure our clinical experiences were at places that would best apply our learning.”
Working clinical shifts gives students opportunities to apply skills learned in the classroom and in their skills lab. Katherine directly supported medical teams at Colby Providence, Edmonds Swedish, Overlake Medical Center, and several more healthcare providers. “A special clinical was my obstetrics rotation at Overlake, being present on the labor and delivery floor, seeing babies born through natural and cesarean methods. Helping to welcome new life safely into the world is such a momentous occasion and an honor I’ll never forget.”
Still, Worker Retraining only partially covered the remaining costs. She would need more funding support to finish her program. She applied for a Shoreline College Foundation Completion Grant. Provided by the generosity of donors in the community, Completion Grants give students who experience unexpected financial hardship while nearing the end of their program the funding to help them graduate on time.
“It was a true godsend when the Shoreline College Foundation was able to cover my tuition for my remaining two quarters! The Completion Grant enabled me to complete my RN.”
Katherine graduated this past March with her AAST-Nursing. Her advice is to never stop being persistent, to keep pursuing your goals, and perhaps most important of all, to ask for help when you need it. There’s lots of support available to help you succeed. “As someone who came back to college full time in their mid-30s, it’s possible! Having a great support system in place is something I think is huge to being successful.”
At Shoreline College, Katherine found support that helped her bridge the gap and stay strong under stress. She plans to join a hospital residency program later this year.
If you’d like more information about Workforce Education or the Shoreline College Foundation contact workforce@shoreline.edu or sccfoundation@shoreline.edu.