If you find yourself roaming the halls of Southeast Missouri Hospital, you’ll need to watch for Ashley Thurston-Holloway darting from patient bed to patient bed. She is in her third year of BSN nursing program at Southeast, and loves every minute. She currently is employed at the hospital, shadowing nurses and assisting with patient care.
Ashley says she feels very prepared for her job because of the detailed instruction the nursing teachers provide.
“Southeast Hospital is giving me an opportunity to see what my job will be like as a nurse.” Ashley explains, “They [staff] are very helpful in giving me knowledge that builds upon the foundation that I’ve learned in the nursing program.”
If Ashley is not helping out with patient care at Southeast Hospital, you’ll find her slamming balls on a tennis court with her husband, catching up on the St. Louis Cardinals, traveling to a NASCAR race or hitting the specialty shops in downtown Cape Girardeau. Juggling work, school and a family is time consuming for her, but she still loves to find time for a vacation.
“I love to travel and I’ve been fortunate enough to have visited many different places in the United States,” Ashley says. “My favorite destination is simply going anywhere with my family.”
Recently having turned 21, Ashley hopes to see the bright lights of Las Vegas someday.
Her fondest memory at Southeast so far has been getting accepted into the program.
“I tried very hard for a year before getting accepted,” she said.
She said Southeast offers an excellent nursing program, and she advises future students to not get discouraged if they are not accepted the first time they apply.
“The nursing program is very difficult to get into…it took me a year to get in, but it has been more than worth it,” she said.
After finishing the nursing program, Ashley plans to pursue a masters of Science in Nursing degree and then become a certified family nurse practitioner. Eventually, she would like to work on her doctorate.
Using her faith as guidance, Ashley will graduate from Southeast in May of 2006. Originally from Puxico, Mo., Ashley is currently living in Gordonville, Mo. with her husband. She says she has enjoyed her time at Southeast and loves the Cape Girardeau area.
“Living, working or going to college, Cape Girardeau provides a community full of wonderful people,” she says.
It is a community she hopes to, one day, care for with the skills and training she learned here at Southeast.