{"id":51982,"date":"2025-05-12T10:29:31","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T15:29:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/?p=51982"},"modified":"2025-05-09T10:30:32","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T15:30:32","slug":"from-pandemic-student-to-future-nurse-2025-grad-gabriella-brown-journey-comes-full-circle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/05\/12\/from-pandemic-student-to-future-nurse-2025-grad-gabriella-brown-journey-comes-full-circle\/","title":{"rendered":"From Pandemic Student to Future Nurse: 2025 Grad Gabriella Brown Journey Comes Full Circle"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cGraduating feels like a dream come true. I\u2019ve faced so much\u2014but I never gave up. And now, I\u2019m here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Gabriella Brown, Associate Degree in Nursing Graduate<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Gabriella Brown started college in 2020\u2014in the middle of a global pandemic. Four years later, she\u2019s walking the stage with her nursing degree, a job lined up at St. David\u2019s Medical Center, and her 1-year-old daughter watching her lead the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will be the first in my family to graduate from college with a nursing degree. I have faced many challenges from financial struggles, pregnancy, and mental fatigue to get to this point. So to sum it up, I’m proud of myself for graduating.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Having spent her entire life in Round Rock, Gabriella knew she wanted to stay close to home. What brought her to ACC was clear: the reputation of the Nursing Program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew I wanted a nursing program with real, hands-on training. ACC gave me that. It offered me many resources. The most amazing ones have been my professors in the nursing program.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the road wasn\u2019t easy. At times, the pressure felt overwhelming. A turning point came in microbiology class\u2014her last before applying to the nursing program. Discouragement started to creep in. But then, a pep talk from her professor changed everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe said, \u2018Gabby, I have seen you on numerous occasions go above and beyond to prepare yourself for this class. You show up on time and you always give your best effort. It’s easy to feel that sense of imposter syndrome, but you are exactly where you need to be. And you are going in the exact direction that you’re supposed to. Never forget that.\u2019 I really needed those words of encouragement to push myself to finish.\u201d<\/p>\n

With that mindset, Gabby pushed forward. She got into the program, trained, studied, and leaned on her ACC community\u2014especially during Level 4, the toughest stretch of the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe entire Level 4 nursing staff kept pushing me to be the best nurse I can be. They believed in me. That made all the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her biggest motivator? Her daughter.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s my greatest motivation to continue on this journey. I get to show her what\u2019s possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Up next? Studying for the NCLEX exam, becoming a licensed RN, and then jumping right into her Labor and Delivery role.<\/p>\n

And to students just starting out, she shares this advice:<\/p>\n

\u201cMake connections wherever you go. Good grades are important\u2014but having support is what helps you keep going. Without my classmates, ACC staff, and faculty, I don\u2019t know where I\u2019d be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Help us celebrate her and the Class of 2025 at austincc.edu\/commencement<\/a>. <\/p>\n

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\u201cGraduating feels like a dream come true. I\u2019ve faced so much\u2014but I never gave up. And now, I\u2019m here.\u201d \u2014 Gabriella Brown, Associate Degree in Nursing Graduate Gabriella Brown started college in 2020\u2014in the middle … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3930,"featured_media":51983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,13,15,17,19],"tags":[2104,434,4145,4146],"class_list":["post-51982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-and-community","category-current-students","category-facstaff-news","category-news-and-announcements","category-students-and-alumni","tag-health-science","tag-nursing","tag-spring-2025-commencement","tag-spring-2025-graduation"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3930"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}