For Nursing Graduate, RN Stands for 'Real Nurse'
ppreciated all her life for a natural eagerness to help
others who dealt with a scrape or an ache or worse, 49year old Juanita Hardy will graduate from the University
of St. Thomas School of Nursing in May with a Bachelor of
Science in Nursing and an overall GPA of 3.8. Keeping her
always-sunny outlook, she will have triumphed on both sides
of the caregiver-patient relationship.
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On the caregiver side, members of her family say the title of
RN is long overdue.
“They’ve taken some license with RN,” Hardy said. “The
family joke is that it stands for ‘real nurse’ and that’s what I
am now.”
Hardy joins more than 1,000 UST graduates—including 29
nursing graduates—to celebrate at the 65th Commencement
Ceremony at 10 a.m. on May 16, 2015 at NRG Arena, located
at 1 NRG Park.
She wanted it, but other priorities came first for a while.
While Hardy was growing up, she was an honor student. She
graduated from high school as valedictorian, and parents and
family thought the third of 11 children would make a good
doctor.
Instead, Hardy had to end her college pursuit and work to
help care for her siblings. She went on to marry, raise a
daughter and indulge her let-me-help-to-fix-you inclinations
as a medical assistant and unit coordinator for a healthcare
clinic. She also worked as a medical assistant instructor.
There, the pull to be a nurse began to grow. Life, however,
did not cooperate. Her experience as a patient had arrived.
In 2010, while at work, Hardy survived a brain aneurysm,
which left her with seizures. Her neurologist recommended
after rehabilitation that she forget about going back to school
and focus on self-care.
Not entirely buying into the limitation, Hardy took the
necessary classes at Houston Community College, and then,
after being accepted at several nursing schools, chose UST.
“I chose UST because when I visited the campus for the first
time, I felt a calm feeling,” Hardy said. “I knew this was the
place God had led me to attain my nursing degree. The
campus just felt like home.”
As a student, she experienced small classes and the warm,
encouraging professors who were always available to her.
Multiple scholarships through the university made a top tier
education quite affordable. Being recognized in the Houston
Chronicle’s “Salute to Nurses” confirmed what everyone
already knew—that Hardy is an outstanding nurse.
But then, life jumped up and threatened everything again.
“I broke my foot,” Hardy said. “I was devastated because I
was on the verge of beginning hospital clinicals to complete
my degree, and I thought I wouldn’t be allowed to continue.”
Demonstrating tremendous resilience, Hardy showed up
happy and upbeat for her 12-hour shifts wearing a special,
knee-high boot.
Also, despite losing five family members from her close-knit
family while in nursing school, Hardy was able to find time to
help her family and complete night-time clinical hours along
with daytime classes. She credits her strength to God and her
loving, supportive husband and daughter.
“These two are my biggest cheerleaders, and without them
my pathway to becoming an RN would not have been
possible,” she said.
Hardy hopes to work in the neuro ICU and women’s health,
based on her own personal and past work experiences.
Now, all that is left for this RN is to keep doing what she is so
good at: using the holistic approach she learned at UST to
take care of people who need healing.
By Jamie Roark
April 2015