Kayla Wood
LCC Student Success Fund and Scholarship Recipient
Meet Kayla Wood, LCC Student Success Fund and Scholarship Recipient
Speech given at LCC Foundation Donor Event in November 2023
Good evening, my name is Kayla Wood and I’m in the 4th quarter of the Traditional RN program here at LCC. I first went to college a long time ago, starting at age 15 and graduating at 18 with an Associate of Applied Science in Computer Networking. Twenty years later, I returned to college here at LCC when life tried to get the best of me.
In March of 2019, the father of my children and my husband of over 14 years was removed from the family home under a domestic violence protection order. This began a series of investigations by law enforcement and CPS, forensic interviews at the Children’s Justice Center, and the Child Abuse Assessment Team at Legacy Hospital. Ultimately, he was criminally charged with two counts Rape of a Child in the first degree and two counts of Child Molestation in the first degree – facing four life in prison sentences. When he was arraigned, the boys were 14 & 12, and the girls were 8 & 4. The protection order proved to be just a piece of paper, he came back to the house so many times. To this day, I sleep in a recliner in the living room, where all the doors come into the main part of the house. So many nights, I’d lie awake and wonder how I could ever pay for upcoming braces, driver’s Ed, cars, or someday their weddings. Not to mention groceries, shoes, clothes, or therapy co-pays for all the kids. I knew I needed a career, not a J-O-B. I knew I needed a way to give back - something I could be proud of.
I decided to become a nurse in March 2021, and within two weeks was enrolled. I chose LCC because everyone I talked to, including Nurse Managers and Recruiters at the area hospitals, said that LCC had the best program. I was working full time, Monday through Friday 8-5, which I continued over the next five quarters while I finished up the remaining pre-reqs that I needed for entry to the RN program. I unexpectedly lost my job in my last quarter of pre-reqs.
Summer 2022 was difficult. I was supposed to be preparing for the nursing program entry test because without passing that I wasn’t even on the list for entry to the program. My dad and I were taking care of Mama who had rapidly progressing Alzheimer's disease.
Somehow, by the grace of God, I passed the nursing entry test. Then the wait began to hear from LCC, as I’d put all my eggs in one basket. I finally received the acceptance email – sitting in the Oncologist’s office with my almost 14-year-old son who’d just been diagnosed with a bone tumor. I couldn’t even be excited, because I was well aware that when you’re fighting cancer, that’s all you’re doing. Surgery to remove the tumor was scheduled for the first week of September, and when I took my seat in the nursing cohort a few weeks later, we were still waiting for pathology reports from the Mayo Clinic. The second week of class began with my 40th birthday, my first nursing exam, and the most wonderful news: “all clear” from Mayo.
My ten quarters here at LCC have been like a huge hug of kindness and support from the staff and faculty I’ve met along the way. Life was a full-on “skills sharpener.” I had no time to try to find the path. These amazing people pulled out the lantern of clarity, the map of financial resources, stuck snacks of encouragement and positivity in my backpack, and guided me along the way. While finances seemed small in the wake of the enormous challenges in front of me, they were one of the only pieces that I could influence or control. I sought out every opportunity I could get my hands on. Once I was accepted into the RN program, the LCC Foundation made an enormous contribution. Last year, I was fortunate enough to be awarded three scholarships amounting to $4,800. This year, two of those scholarships were renewed as I successfully met the renewal criteria. Additionally, I received the Sister Patricia McGuiness Memorial Nursing scholarship for $2,500.
To say these generous scholarships helped me keep going is an enormous understatement. I felt a sense of obligation. I knew there were people, like the generous donors in this room, who believed in me enough to support me in becoming a nurse - I couldn’t let them down. Going to school as a single mom is no easy task. Since I returned to school, I’ve had an emergency appendectomy finals week, didn’t get unemployment for 14 weeks after losing my job, the criminal case against my ex was dismissed by the state, I had spine surgery on Spring Break and left the hospital using a walker, my 14 year old had the cancer scare and surgery, my 16-year-old suffered a severe head trauma and skull fracture, my mom has faded away and is now on her death bed, and just last week the civil trial which began in July against my ex proving child sex assault, yet here I am. Standing before you on a very special day for me. 18 years ago today, I gave birth to my first child. He was called back to Heaven just 9 days later. At the time, I thought that was the worst thing I’d ever go through. Oh, how the last 5 years have proven me wrong about that!
I’m humbled by the generosity bestowed on me and my children which made it possible for me to be here. There was no way I could work through all of this, including the RN program. Were it not for the scholarships I received, I would have had to divert my path back into the workplace. To say thank you seems so small when one has received so much. My children will have a much different, much brighter future, because of the scholarships I received. The ripple effect will continue for decades. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.
~Kayla Wood