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Twenty years ago, when she started out at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne, Wyoming, as a young, single mom, Laura Nelson had planned on preparing for a career as an X-ray technician. But by the time she’d gotten to anatomy class, her instructor recognized...

Racking up a long list of accomplishments is a considerable achievement for any nurse, let alone one who’s still in his thirties. But what it took Lin to get there, and what he experienced along the way, makes those achievements all the more remarkable.

Ask registered nurse Jana Mazzo why she’s in the health care field, and the answer is a simple one: she wanted to make helping people her life’s work. From that basic principle, however, she’s developed a career that’s as varied and interesting as the nursing field itself.

Growing up the youngest of three sisters in Laurel, Mississippi, Darlene Murdock remembers well the values her mother instilled in her from childhood: always do your best, don’t worry about what other people say about you, and work hard.

As a teenager, Kristy Wheeler grew up watching “ER,” the 15-season NBC medical drama that followed the lives of emergency room staff at a fictional Chicago hospital. The show resonated with her so much so that Wheeler decided to pursue a career as a surgical technologist.

Growing up on a hog farm in Minnesota, David Walz remembers getting a hands-on education caring for living things early in life. Although it’s not a straight line from there to the human health care field, the execution of such duties “aligns with many of the things we have to do as nurses,” Walz said.