Accelerated Nursing Program
"Hello Triton parents,
My name is Kyla Robinson and I am pleased to share my story with you all! I am a 23 year old from Saint Louis, Missouri. I first attended University of Central Missouri and began my college career as a nursing major. After not getting accepted into their nursing program, I changed my major to health studies and graduated in May 2019 with my Bachelor’s of Science in Health Studies. However, I never gave up on my dreams of becoming a nurse practitioner. I knew I had to come up with another plan to fulfill my career goal. I researched other accelerated nursing programs I could attend and decided on UMSL. On March 25, 2020, I received the email saying I was accepted into the accelerated nursing program and I would begin in August 2020. I was ecstatic! This was the best news I had ever received, I would finally begin the journey of reaching my career goal! I spent the next few months working and mentally preparing myself to begin this rigorous program. I wasn’t going to let anything get in my way, coincidentally, two lines did…
Yes, On June 18, 2020, I found out I was pregnant. My world crashed. I waited all my life to get into nursing school and now that it was two months away, I blew it. There was no way I could excel in nursing school while being pregnant, having a child, and maintaining financial, emotional, mental, and social stability. It was over, I would have to put my dreams on hold again.
I spent days talking to nursing faculty at UMSL trying to figure out if this would be possible. I spent days crying, talking and praying to God, to help lead me to make the best decision for myself and my unborn child. I cried to my mom, not knowing what to do, and she said these exact words to me, “Kyla, let me tell you what you’re going to do. You’re going to have this baby, you’re going to go to school in August, you’re going to graduate on time, and you’re going to make it through.” At that moment, I decided I was going to do just that.
On August 24, 2020, I started my first day of nursing school, three months pregnant. Throughout the semester, I was blessed with awesome professors who helped me through my physical struggles and worked with me with any additional help I needed. As the months went on, I continued to push through and attended all class sessions until a week before I delivered. After 27 hours of labor and having an emergency C-section, on February 20, 2021 I delivered a healthy baby boy named Martez De’Lyn Lavon Barnum. The joy and love I experienced seeing my son for the first time was like nothing I could ever imagine. I now had another motivation to keep pushing through.
Having a C-section was physically and emotionally hard. I knew this would push me further back in school, being that I couldn’t attend class for at least six weeks. I was defeated once again. There was no way I could succeed with this setback, at least I thought. God must’ve led me to chose the right program because thankfully, the UMSL nursing staff was able to work out a plan with me that would allow me to fulfill my nursing requirements and still graduate on time!
I am currently four months away from graduating UMSL’s accelerated nursing program and becoming Kyla Robinson, RN, BSN. I am loving being a mother, it is the most joyous thing I’ve ever done! I work as a student nurse and have been excelling in my position, I’ve already been offered a job as nurse upon graduating! I was able to move out and have been blessed enough to provide a home for myself and my child and still maintain financial stability for us. I have a great support system and couldn’t imagine this experience going any different!
Through my experience, I have learned that I am stronger than what I have ever given myself credit for. Through all of my hardships, I have overcome and excelled. One piece of advice I have for other student parents is to believe in yourself and never give up! You are strong and mighty and can do anything you put your mind to! Yes, it is hard. Yes, you might cry. Yes, you might feel defeated at times. All of which I have experienced, but with determination and motivation, YOU CAN DO IT!"
