March 29, 2013

Age is no obstacle for middle-aged Drexel nursing students Diane Werner, 47, and Stephanie Reeves, 44, who were quoted on Nurse.com about their positive experiences going back to college later in life. Werner and Reeves were both discouraged to go into nursing when they were initially choosing their career paths. After this opposition, Reeves switched to major in information technology because she wanted to earn a good living, but it wasn’t her passion.

"I have a real passion for underserved communities and people who don’t have good access to healthcare," Reeves said. Her goal is to work with the World Health Organization and she is working toward earning a BSN this fall from Drexel’s Accelerated Career Entry BSN program.

Older adults are highly motivated and bring life experiences and focus to class, said Patricia Dillon, RN, PhD, director for graduate nursing and RN-BSN and RN-MSN programs at La Salle University in Philadelphia. They aren’t too distracted with the things other college students are distracted with.

At 47, nearly 30 years after she was dissuaded to study nursing, Werner has a 3.67 GPA and is on track to graduate with her BSN in June 2013.

"My children also get to see that hard work pays off. It is not uncommon for me to dance around bragging when I do well or for my kids to console me when I don’t. This has been a growing and learning experience for my entire family," Werner said.