Winter Commencement 2024: ABSN grad McKenzie Perkins finds her future in the second degree

Despite being in her junior year at another college and in an unrelated program, McKenzie Perkins always knew she wanted to work in healthcare and that she specifically wanted to be a nurse.

"But it was a bit late in the game for me to change my major to nursing," the Lexington, Virginia, native said, recalling that being so far into her previous degree program, it would have been like starting college all over again. Though Perkins decided to stick it out with her initial program, healthcare always seemed to be where she was destined to land.

Perkins was working as an emergency room scribe at LewisGale Medical Center in Salem, Virginia, as she finished her first degree. There, she says she got her first real exposure to the responsibilities of the healthcare professionals on the team caring for patients.

"I was always a little bit more drawn to what the nursing staff was up to," she said. "I was drawn to their level of involvement in patient care. It was kind of eye-opening for me, and I just figured that nursing aligned a little bit more with my values and my career goals."

It didn't hurt that Perkins had several nurses in her family who were able to encourage and support her decision to build on her education by embarking on another bachelor's degree. She needed to be able to use that experience and education to her benefit, though, and that is where the Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) program at Radford University at Carilion (RUC) in Roanoke came into focus.

One of the requirements for the ABSN program is that applicants must have already earned a bachelor's degree before beginning the program. This ensures they are prepared for the intense 16 months of courses over four straight semesters (including summers) that allow them to earn a bachelor's degree in a fraction of the time it takes a traditional BSN student.

"I was fortunate to know people who've been through the ABSN program and had great things to say," Perkins said. "So, this was the only nursing school I applied to."

To compound the complexity of her second degree program, Perkins commutes daily from Lexington for classes and clinicals.

"It's been interesting, to say the least," she said, "but I have really just fallen in love with the quality of my education at Radford. I know that I will be well prepared to step out into the hospital setting once I'm done. And that's really reassuring."

What Perkins will take away from the ABSN program is that nursing is all about advocacy for her patients, she said.

"You're constantly teaching patients, constantly educating them about their disease processes and how to take care of themselves out of the healthcare setting," Perkins said. "I just think it's amazing that nurses are, kind of, the go-to person for a lot of things concerning patient care."

Perkins has even lined up her first job in nursing, post-graduation, thanks to Amy Beachy, a special purpose instructor in the Radford University College of Nursing. She will be an oncology nurse at the University of Virginia Medical Center. Beachy, a UVA graduate, wrote her a letter of recommendation that landed her the job.

"I'll be working with cancer patients very closely," Perkins said. "My first clinical rotation ever actually was in oncology, and I fell in love with it. I'm a pretty sensitive person, so I wasn't super sure if, from an emotional standpoint, I'd be able to handle that."

Perkins feels that thanks to the cumulative experience and education she has received through her program at Radford, she can enter her nursing career confidently.

"I came into this program very timid, and I wasn't 100% sure of myself," she said. "But I have had so many amazing instructors that have led me and allowed me to gain the confidence that I needed to practice nursing skills."

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