After 20 years, a Nursing Degree with Honorable Distinction!

For many of you Mexican nurses, you know the process of attaining your degree quite well: you go to school, do your mandatory year of Social Service and you present you Professional Exam in order for you to obtain your Nursing Degree. Of course, there are variations to the last requirement. Some nursing schools waive the Professional Exam if you achieved a high grade point average in your schoolwork.

We have been approached by many nurses, that for whatever circumstance in life, finished their schooling but did not complete the steps for obtaining their degree. We have been pressed to help them until recently.

Thanks to the coordination of IOC team member, Mtra. Evangelina Cardona, the IOC was able to assist one of our candidates to achieve that long-cherished dream of receiving her degree in Nursing yesterday, 20 years after completing studies, through the presentation of her Professional Exam, via teleconference in the UNAM Los Angeles office. This is the first time that this type of exam has been set up between UNAM's Escuela Nacional de Enfermeria y Obstreticia in Mexico City and any of the UNAM extensions outside of Mexico and I was truly honored to witness this great event.

From left to right:
Ana Maria Reyes Bolaños, ENEO student
Prof. Jose Carlos Escobar, Secretario Académico de la UNAM-LA
Patricia Frausto, IOC Bilingual RN Program Manager
Georgina Pérez, ENEO Graduate
Georgina Pérez's daughter

Our candidate not only passed her oral examination, she has been recommended for Honorable Distinction!

A word from our recently degreed nurse: "Just because we are Latinos in the United States, does not mean that we cannot advance and achieve our goals. All you need is hard work, determination, and to always keep that dream in mind."