Galen Stories: Lauren Lacount – I Couldn’t Have Asked for a Better School

— Audio Transcript —

Hi, my name is Lauren Lacount. I completed the Vocational Nurse program here at Galen, and currently, I’m enrolled in the Vocational Nurse to ADN Bridge Program.

What inspired you to become a nurse?

Unfortunately, my brother was shot back in 2015, so when he was in the ICU for about four days on a ventilator, he just had a nurse that wasn’t maybe up to par. So I ended up doing a lot of the care for him. It made me angry, but it fueled my passion to become a great nurse and set the standard for my practice.

How did you end up at Galen?

I took my pre-reqs at another big name four-year university, and then I noticed that I was just a check and a number on my forehead, so that really got me to a point where looking at a more private smaller school. Then I went on the Board of Nursing website and I just clicked on Galen and I was like, ‘Oh well, check it out.’ So I came down and just from the very beginning when I took a tour here, my enrollment advisor was really great. Almost every staff member, current student that was here at the time stopped to talk to me and just smiled. It was like I was a part of their family.

What did you like about the Vocational Nursing program?

I think it’s really great. Not only do they have four start dates throughout the year, which I think is very awesome, I feel like the teachers here really care and they’re accessible almost 24/7 even on weekends. And I think they’re very great about incorporating nursing even in your general education classes, so that way you’re truly understanding the Galen slogan of ‘Pure Nursing.’

Talk about the VN to ADN program.

So the Vocational Nurse to ADN Program is really great because it helps a lot of students have more flexibility with their scheduling of their classes. If you have a lot going on in your life, it makes it really nice, you can take one class instead of three classes per quarter, or if you have more time and more flexibility, you can take more classes. The instructors in the ADN Program, they’re very nice, they’re very caring, and even though you’re not in class as much, you still get that feeling as if they’re accessible 24/7 and you can go to them for anything.

Describe your hands-on experiences at Galen.

So in the VN Program it was great because just from the jump you get a ton of hands-on experience, not only in the clinical learning lab but out in clinicals. Then for the VN to ADN Bridge Program, going out into the hospital and really seeing the things that you’re learning about in theory really brings it all home.

Final thoughts?

I think nursing is a call, and I think Galen makes you understand why you were called to nursing, especially the mentors here and the teachers here, they’re lovely. I couldn’t have asked for a better school. I would scream it from the rooftop if I could, that Galen is one of the best schools and I wish I would’ve come here sooner.