This Saturday, Monique Reid will graduate from Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) with a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing.
For Reid, it’s been a journey to get here, with many highs and lows. Her advice to other students echoes her mantra for herself through what it took to get here: don’t give up, don’t lose heart.
“Although it is easier said than done, keep going,” Reid said. “Fight against negative feelings and discouragement. Keep going. This is your dream, this is your life, and it is worth fighting for. This is the fight of your life, and remember you are a champion.”
PVAMU has long been a university to cultivate a culture where students bring their dreams to the university’s doorstep, knowing the faculty and staff will help students overcome obstacles to achieve great accomplishments. Reid experienced this as she dreamed of being a nurse. But she faced tragedy, delays, and obstacles in finishing her degree program, from the death of family members, including her husband, navigating relocating to the Houston area, financial trouble, illness, and car accidents. But through it all, she always kept in focus a dream of becoming a nurse and attending PVAMU.
Originally from Shreveport, Louisiana, Reid is a legacy student, joining a group of her family members in earning a degree from PVAMU. She remembered her mom’s stories of the university and knew it was a great fit for her.
“I’ve always wanted to be a registered nurse,” Reid said. “My mother went to Prairie View. Growing up, she would show us her yearbooks and always tell my brother and me these amazing stories of her student life at Prairie View. I have always had a lifelong dream of going to Prairie View.”
Reid earned a Certificate of Vocational Nursing through the Vocational Nursing Program at Houston Community College, while navigating the death of her grandmother and the terminal illness of her husband, Kristopher. But through this grief, Reid said her firsthand experiences with the medical system in Houston only strengthened her resolve to become a nurse.
“In 2008, I married my best friend, Kristopher Jackson. Unfortunately, he was sick with kidney disease and various gastrointestinal illnesses,” Reid said. “While continuing to work, I took time off from school to take care of him around the clock. The Methodist Hospital System took such good care of him. My dream expanded to not only graduating from Prairie View with a Bachelor of Science Degree in nursing but obtaining my dream job of working at Methodist Hospital’s downtown location. Devastatingly in 2010, he lost his battle to his chronic illnesses. Before he died, he asked me to make a promise to him. He told me to promise that I would continue to fulfill and work towards my dream of becoming a nurse through Prairie View A&M University. I promised I would.”
Armed with her late husband’s encouragement, Reid eventually was accepted to the LVN to BSN program at PVAMU, after finishing prerequisite courses at Lone Star College and making the President’s List for her hard work.
But, Reid was learning again not to lose heart even in the face of more heartaches and obstacles, both personal and professional.
“Although it was an exciting time in my life, it was also challenging,” Reid remembers. “I was still grieving the loss of my husband. In April of 2003, my maternal grandmother died, and in the spring of 2016, my car was repossessed, and my home went into foreclosure. I was struggling with my finances while trying to devote all my time to school. My phone and electricity were turned off, food was scarce, my mom became seriously ill, and I was involved in two major car accidents. In May of 2016, I was set to graduate, but before I did, I would have to score a 900 on a required exit exam called the HESI. I scored 895. After being unsuccessful in my second and final attempt, I withdrew from the College of Nursing three weeks before graduation. Although I felt defeated, I was determined not to give up in accomplishing my goals.”
While at Prairie View, Reid’s courses in major sciences (Microbiology, Anatomy and Physiology 1, and Anatomy and Physiology 2) had expired, so she went back to Lone Star College. She retook those courses and tried again to get into the Lone Star College’s Associate of Science Nursing degree program. However, she would have to enter as a transfer student, and the waiting list was two years. So, instead, she applied to Lamar State College – Port Arthur.
It was there that she met Lamar’s department chair of Allied Health, a professor and leader who again reminded her of the spirit of PVAMU: don’t give up.
“It was at Lamar that I met Mrs. Shirley MacNeil [MSN],” Reid said. “She was so empathetic, positive, and encouraging about my journey so far. She was also willing to give me a second chance. I was accepted to that school in January 2018. Determined to become a registered nurse, every day for an entire year, I got ready at 4 a.m. and drove almost two hours from Houston to Port Arthur. Unfortunately, I received the bad news that my dad died suddenly. With all the strength I had left in December of 2018, I obtained an Associate of Science degree in nursing. I passed the NCLEX [National Council Licensure Examination] in January of 2019 with flying colors. In January of 2020, I went back to Prairie View and began the Associate RN to BSN program. Now, I am finally graduating with my BSN from Prairie View! Thank you, Jehovah, and thank you to my family and friends!”
Reid is pictured in a Kingston, New York newsletter in 2003 when she first began her journey in higher education.
In addition to her in-classroom experiences at PVAMU and other universities, Reid also had the chance to complete a nursing preceptorship at Baptist Hospital of Beaumont through Lamar State College – Port Arthur. It helped her refine her time management skills and see how theory is put into practice in other areas of nursing.
In the future, she is continuing to dream big – and not ever giving up, remembering what the past few years have taught her.
“Eventually, I do want to obtain my Master of Science degree in nursing and teach nursing,” Reid said. “I want to teach nursing to be able to have the chance to help instill in students the will to not give up, persevere, and become a positive influence on them. I want to be a part of that link to be able to give someone a chance to have a better life and accomplish their dreams. PVAMU taught me not to give up on myself.”
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By Meredith Mohr