Day by day, Kathy Dang watched and learned as her mother found ways to make her nail business a success.

Thuy Nguyen left Vietnam when she was 18 years old and eventually settled in Greenville, Ohio, where she worked hard to provide a good life for Kathy.

She stressed excellence in education, but left Kathy to her own career decisions.

It was an easy one for her at age 18: She chose to join the B.S.N. Program at Indiana University East.

The cost was low and the student camaraderie was high. Richmond was close to home. And Dang could get close to the professors. There were ample opportunities for clinicals and interesting classes.

Her own hard work has obviously paid big dividends. She will have participated in two other graduation ceremonies before the official Commencement for the Class of 2024 on the morning of May 9.

The reasons for three ceremonies:

First, Dang excelled in completing the schoolwork, simulations, clinicals (and more) in the Bachelor’s of Science degree in Nursing.

Second, she completed the Honors Program that requires a demanding load of extra classes, assignments and research – plus cultural engagement activities and a presentation at Student Research Day. She graduated from the Honors program at Honors Convocation.

Third, she received her nursing pin during another ceremony. Pinning is a tradition for new nurses that goes back more than a century. It is unique in higher education.

“That was very exciting, very special,” Dang said about receiving the pin that will be worn at Commencement. “I’m done with classes. It’s still hard to believe that.”

Dang is thankful for the way her mother encouraged her to find the right fit in her college education and career.

“She said she didn’t care what I did as long as I liked it,” Kathy said. “She would support me in any way she could.”

Dang gained lots of support and friendships within the tight-knit Class of 2024.

“You make many friends in your nursing classes,” she said. “We spent a lot of time together. We’d all gather and study for exams at the library.”

Hundreds in the Class of 2024 already shared a unique bond when they started at IU East four years ago. They had been denied in-person high school graduations in 2020 because of the COVID pandemic.

Dang predicts IU East’s Commencement will hold a deeper meaning for those like her who missed out on their high school graduations.

“It will be joyful. We will shed some tears.”

Joyful and thankful are words she uses in describing her years in the B.S.N. program.

“The professors were very student-oriented, very personal with us,” Dang said.

She is thankful for the special opportunities she had – such as a week-long immersion trip to southern Alaska last fall with four other IU East students. They bonded well, Dang said, as they helped provide services at two clinics in an area where medical facilities are sparse.

“They provide care for anybody at the clinics,” Dang said. “It’s a very different environment, very isolated.”

Next up for her is a full-time nursing job somewhere in Indiana or Ohio.

“I want to work somewhere in oncology at a bigger hospital,” she said.

She did her clinical capstone in the medical surgery unit at McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital in Oxford, Ohio, where she helped patients get ready to go into surgery and then come out of it. Dang also did clinical work at Reid Health and nursing homes around the Richmond area.

She loves that she will be part of a field that is focused on helping and healing:

“I just like to help people, to see that change right there in front of me.”