Single-Parent Students Find Support at Muhlenberg School of Nursing
Monday November 16, 2009
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Muhlenberg nursing students are eligible for the program if they are single parents with one child between the ages of 5 and 10.
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The students were embarking on a unique educational experience as the first five students enrolled in the Audrey Snyder Single Parent Program. The program offers single parents paid tuition and rent-free living in a customized dormitory unit that accommodates children. Three of the five original students have graduated, and the other two will graduate in the near future. This fall, two new students entered the program. The program is funded through financial aid and scholarships.
“Money for tuition and rent is the hardest thing for a single parent, as is child care,” Mathews says. She says the communal living arrangements are intended to bring the students together as a family so students can rely on each other for responsibilities such as homework, babysitting, and cooking. The dormitory unit, or pod, consists of five two-bedroom suites that include a bathroom. The suites are connected to a common living space, kitchen, and laundry area.
The Single Parent Program was developed by Mathews. She says the goal is to create an environment that fosters the bond between parent and child while facilitating an advanced education in nursing. As a single parent herself, Mathews experienced the trials of single parenting firsthand. Her children are now grown, but she credits several mentors for supporting her through those struggles and wants to provide that same support to other single parents seeking a nursing career.
Marie Debrosse, RN, one of the program’s recent graduates, says living on campus with her daughter was a big advantage. Before being accepted to the Single Parent Program, she was commuting 45 minutes each way and struggling to find child care for her daughter, who is now 10 years old. In addition, Debrosse says she was able to cut back on work hours because the need for tuition, rent, and utilities no longer loomed overhead. Debrosse just passed her licensure exam and is seeking an RN position. She plans to return to school for a BSN and MSN in geriatrics.
“This program was a dream come true for me,” Debrosse says. “I received assistance with tuition and I was able to have my daughter right there with me. For all of us it was like a match made in heaven.”
Mathews says she is encouraged by the success of the program and hopes to expand it in the future. She says the original five students and children bonded immediately. “They get along like peanut butter and jelly,” Mathews says. “It’s truly peaceful, communal living. The best support for students is each other.”
Muhlenberg nursing students are eligible for the program if they are single parents with one child between the ages of 5 and 10. They also must meet the academic requirements, complete an interview with the dean, and demonstrate financial need. Nursing students at Muhlenberg receive a diploma in nursing from Muhlenberg School of Nursing and an associate’s degree in science from Union County College. Credits earned at Muhlenberg are transferable to BSN programs at other schools.
Imani Hillman has been in the program for two years and says the collaboration among the students has made nursing school a reality for her. She too has a 10-year-old daughter and says the students interact as family and the children feel like siblings and friends. Financially, nursing school would not have been an option without the Single Parent Program, Hillman says.
“Before I was working full time, whereas now I am able to work part time,” Hillman says. “My priorities are school and my daughter.”
Carol Campell, a language and learning coach with her Scotch Plains, N.J., company Speaking of English, says the Single Parent Program at Muhlenberg is successful because the students are working as a team. Campell, who provides critical thinking and learning strategy workshops at Muhlenberg, says students benefit from group experiences where there are shared concerns and goals.
“Very often people go through an educational experience by themselves,” Campell says. “Students need connections with people who will support them emotionally and cognitively.” She says students in the Single Parent Program have a unique set of challenges and the group setting eliminates distractions such as commuting and child care while offering collaborative study assistance.
Ahmed Sillah, RN, graduated from Muhlenberg School of Nursing in 2008. He also was one of the first five students in the program. He has a daughter who is now 13 years old. Sillah learned about the Single Parent Program while seeking peaceful asylum in the U.S. His life was threatened after forming a youth peace movement in Africa. An education in the medical field was an impossible dream growing up in war-torn Sierra Leone, he says.
“This program is a blessing in disguise,” Sillah says. “We all pulled together. We took turns babysitting and developed a close bond. Their smiling faces kept me going.”
Currently, Sillah works full time as the charge nurse on the medical unit at the Middlesex County Correctional Facility and as the weekend nursing supervisor at the Norwood Terrace Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Plainfield, N.J.
In January, Sillah plans to return to school for a BSN. He says he eventually wants to return to Africa to start a pediatric hospital, reiterating an expectation Mathews shares with all students accepted into the Audrey Snyder Single Parent Program.
“There are no expected give-backs,” Mathews says. “All we ask is the students work hard, be responsible, and take their profession back to their communities.”
For more on the program, visit www.muhlenbergschools.org/assp.asp.
Rita Marie Barsella, RN, BSN, MSJ, is a freelance writer. To comment, e-mail editorNY@nursingspectrum.com.
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