KCC Stories: KCC Nursing student and mom Fernanda Rivera pursues new opportunities through nursing

KCC Nursing student Fernanda Rivera.

When Fernanda Rivera started the Kellogg Community College Nursing Program this fall, her busy schedule and got even busier.

Outside of school, Rivera, 35, works full time as a general manager of Domino’s and is the mother of two kids, a 5-year-old and an 11-year-old.

Rivera spent nearly the first half of her life living in Brazil, leaving 19 years ago to finish high school in the Maryland area when her parents decided to pursue new opportunities in the U.S. Today she and her husband, who owns a Domino’s franchise in Battle Creek, live in Kalamazoo, and Rivera is pursuing new opportunities of her own in nursing.

“I wanted to be able to help people, and it’s a lot more hands on than med school and a lot shorter than med school,” Rivera says, laughing.

She says she chose to study nursing at KCC because the College had a competitive program that didn’t involve a wait list.

“You were picked based on merit,” Rivera says, “not on whether you’d been on some list for three years.”

Rivera says the program has been a positive experience so far – “It’s got good instructors who care about their students,” she says – and that she’d absolutely recommend it to others, though it can be a challenge at times to balance school with other responsibilities.

“It is challenging, however, it’s definitely doable. Especially coming from somebody that has a full-time job and children,” Rivera says. “You can do it, but it’s definitely challenging.”

Study Nursing at KCC

Applications for KCC’s Fall 2018 Full-Time Nursing Program are available now! Visit www.kellogg.edu/nursing for more information.

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