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CLARKSTON, Ga. — Memunata Bah knows she doesn’t fit the model of a traditional nursing student.
At age 46, she’ll be graduating from Perimeter College’s Associate of Nursing degree program, cheered on by three children and her husband. She’ll join 41 other nursing students in a special pinning ceremony at the Clarkston Campus Tuesday, April 30, before graduating May 2 during Perimeter College’s commencement exercises.
“I can finally see the light,” Bah said. “All my children tell me, ‘Mommy, we are so proud of you.’”
When she was 21, Bah fled civil war in her native Sierra Leone. After staying with extended family in Guinea for a few months, she joined her husband in the U.S. as part of a resettlement program. Despite the safety of her new home, the transition to a new country as a new bride with a new way of life was hard, she said.
“Thinking back, it took some time for me to adjust to living here in the U.S.,” she said.
She credits her husband’s support as she navigated her new home. Bah knew she wanted to go to college but wasn’t sure what she wanted to do. She took courses and became a certified nursing assistant and found she loved it.
“I worked in a nursing home and enjoyed being around a geriatric population,” she said.
She got her licensed practical nursing degree in 2005 with a goal of becoming a registered nurse. But with three school-age children, she decided to put that dream on the back burner, and it would take almost 18 years before she finally started the nursing program at Perimeter College.
Meanwhile, she continued to work as an LPN in skilled nursing facilities, hospice, assisted living facilities, personal care homes and, later, the Department of Community Health as a compliance specialist.
When the time came to start working toward her registered nursing degree, she looked up programs online and found Perimeter College’s nursing program.
“I looked at it cost-wise, and looked at the pass rate for the NCLEX [National Council Licensure Examination], and Perimeter had a 99 percent pass rate. I had to apply right away,” she said. “The instructors were very helpful. The program is not very easy, but they want us to succeed. They prepare us well to go out there and be good nurses.”
Bah noted there will be a lot of celebrating in her family this year. Her daughter is graduating from high school and will attend Georgia State as a computer science major, her son will graduate from Kennesaw State in the fall and her youngest will enter high school.
“I’m so excited to graduate. I’ve had so many setbacks, but I’m here. I worked so hard to get where I am right now,” Bah said. “It’s a special time and I wanted to thank my instructors and give thanks to God. I can finally see the light and I know they prepared me well.”
The next step after graduation for all nursing students will be taking the NCLEX, the standardized exam each state board of nursing uses to determine if a candidate is prepared for entry-level practice.
While she already has a few job interviews lined up, with hopes of working as an oncology nurse, Bah doesn’t plan on ending her educational journey.
“I plan to go back to get my bachelor’s in nursing at the Atlanta Campus after I pass the NCLEX and, after that, work on becoming a nurse practitioner,” she said.
— Story by Rebecca Rakoczy
— Photo by Bill Roa