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Amanda and Colen Bishop with Alexandra, 9, Abigail, 8, and Griffin, 6

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Mother of three graduating from college

by Wanda Combs
Editor

With three children, this household stays busy. The family’s schedule is a typical one, days filled with schoolwork, sandlot games and other activities. Next week there will another occasion to add to the mix – mom’s graduation from college.
Amanda Bishop, a nursing student at New River Community College, will be receiving her diploma on May 13.  Among those cheering her on will be husband Colen, daughters Alexandra, age 9, Abigail, 8, and son, Griffin, 6.
Going to college has been a challenge, Bishop admits, but if not for her family, especially her husband and her mother Sally Radford, it would not have been possible.
Bishop waited until her youngest child entered kindergarten before continuing her nursing education. “I always wanted to be a nurse,” she said. At Floyd County High School she took the Health Occupations class with teacher Carol Spengler and started going to the nursing home as part of that curriculum. She worked there for five years as a nursing assistant.
After that time, she had her family, but she also began working in the operating room at New River Valley Medical Center as an anesthesia technician. Her co-workers at the hospital encouraged her to go back for her Registered Nurse degree.
Bishop began college at NRCC in the fall of 2006. She cut back her work schedule to part-time and took a full load of classes. One semester she had to take six classes in addition to a class on Wednesday night. The nursing studies were demanding with clinicals – work in hospitals – also adding to the hours of study. For the clinicals, she traveled to the NRV Medical Center, Roanoke Memorial, and Twin County in Galax. During clinicals, she explains, nursing students are assigned patients and must take care of them under the supervision of the nursing supervisor.
Being a mother, going to class and working have been a challenge, she says. “It’s been rough. The last two months were the worse.”
Bishop will receive her associate degree in nursing from NRCC next week. She will then have to prepare for her nursing board, which she plans to take on June 1. She must pass that test to be licensed as a Registered Nurse.
After graduation, she will be continuing her job at the hospital. She will be working in the Progressive Care Unit for six months and then after that time, will be with the Critical Care Unit.
Her husband also works for Carilion, with Carilion Patient Transport, where he is a communications specialist for LifeGuard.
The family attends Grace Baptist Church in Willis.
Bishop plans to continue her education. She wants to get her Bachelor’s degree in nursing, and so she will be beginning studies at the College of Health Sciences in Roanoke in the fall. After getting that degree, her goal is to become a nurse anesthesist. That will require an additional 2 ½ years at one of the colleges offering that program.
With nursing “there’s always something new to learn,” Bishop comments. She enjoys especially the one-on-one contact with patients. “I love working with people and doing my best to help them in whatever situation they’re in.”