The Right Choice
Profile Index

(Photo by Will Kirk)

When I completed a degree in urban planning and environmental policy, I was excited to establish my home and career in the city of Baltimore. But my job as a transportation
and environmental planner left me unsatisfied. In choosing my new career, I spent time reflecting on work that I had enjoyed in the past.

As a waiter, I loved busy Friday nights, keeping customers happy as I flew from one table to the next. While in South Africa, I enjoyed teaching better health standards to the local population. I learned that I thrive on chaos, I need to be on my toes, and I have a strong desire to care for people. These realizations led me to nursing.

I applied to only one school-The Johns Hopkins School of Nursing-with the prayer  that I would be accepted. I was very fortunate not only to be accepted, but to receive financial aid as well. I cannot adequately express how grateful I am for the philanthropic efforts of others that made nursing school a possibility for me.

I am very pleased with the quality of the accelerated program at Johns Hopkins, though this is undoubtedly the hardest I have ever worked in my life! My efforts are paying off, and each clinical experience demonstrates that nursing was the right career choice for me.

I am currently interested in oncology, and look forward to narrowing my focus as I continue my studies.  I have even already landed a job for when I graduate, here at Hopkins in Weinberg 5A.

In 1990, the E. Rhodes and Leona Bowman Carpenter Foundation made a gift to the School of Nursing to establish a scholarship fund in honor of the late Mrs. Carpenter, a 1939 alumna of the School of Nursing. Mrs. Carpenter spent many years in public health nursing after graduation, including several years as an instructor at the School.

-Marc Epstein-Reeves, Accelerated Class of 2005