Aimee: 6,000 Miles to College
Aimee grew up in Tacoma and wanted to follow in her mother’s footsteps by attending a college nursing program. But she faced two hurdles: money and distance.
Aimee was undaunted by the heart-pounding work she saw nurses do on “ER”—but she felt less certain about making it to college. At age 11, she had moved with her family halfway around the world to Albania, where her parents became missionaries to an orphanage. They encouraged her to continue her education, but acknowledged they couldn’t help her fund it. So as Aimee researched colleges in Washington state, she did so with the knowledge that she’d be making a long—and costly—journey by herself: She hadn’t lived in the United States for seven years, had few friends there, and would show up alone to a campus nine time zones away from her family support system.
She was accepted by Pacific Lutheran University’s nursing program straight from high school. The acceptance was good news, but it came with added pressure: Aimee’s spot in the nursing program required she maintain a B or better grade point average during freshman year.
“Leaving Albania, I honestly cried the whole flight. I was leaving behind everything familiar and safe. I remember thinking, ‘I should just turn around!’
“It is one thing to move 30 minutes away to college, but I was moving 6,000 miles and I didn’t know when I would see my family again,” she recalls. “Needless to say, I was terrified.”
On campus, she made new friends, got a job, played soccer, and settled into new routines. But she was homesick—and she wasn’t always confident about the future.
“Despite the new excitement I still worried a lot. I worried about my grades and whether I would keep my spot in the nursing program. I worried about paying for the next year of college,” she says. “There were random times, before class, after soccer, during work, where I was struck so hard by homesickness that I broke into tears.”
During her freshman spring, she received her PLU financial aid package and concluded she couldn’t afford to return to school in the fall—unless a miracle happened. At PLU she had met College Success Foundation Scholars who had received scholarships which helped pay their tuition. So she applied for CSF’s Leadership 1000 Scholarship and then turned her energy back toward the one thing she had the power to influence with respect to nursing school—her academics.
A few months (and a solid report card) later, she got good news: She would be the recipient of a CSF scholarship that would help fund tuition for the rest of college!
With this support, much of her stress eased. The scholarship allowed her to halve her work hours—creating more time for study and rest and letting her bring more energy to demanding nursing clinics and lab-based courses. The funding not only removed the financial barrier that once stood between her and a college degree, but it also connected her to the campus CSF community where she found supportive friends who encouraged her during tough times.
When Aimee graduated in 2017, she once again found herself crying—but this time, she shed tears of joy. College had been a long and hard journey and she had earned a nursing degree.
Today, Aimee works for Multicare at Good Samaritan Hospital as a critical care nurse—her dream job from day one of nursing school.
“I think nursing is not just a profession, but a space for human connection—a place to unconditionally love and serve people of all races, classes, and walks of life,” she says. “By night, I save people’s lives. I love my job!”
College Success Foundation encourages students and scholars to persist with their dreams, despite the individual challenges they face. Success stories like Aimee’s reinforce that our financial and emotional supports for underserved students make a life-changing difference on the journey to college graduation.
“I wouldn’t have stayed at PLU without the help of family, friends, and the Leadership 1000 Scholarship from the College Success Foundation,” Aimee says.