Nurse of the Week: Cassie Dietrick, Mother of Two, Overcomes Deployment to Afghanistan While Working Toward Nursing Degree
Our Nurse of the Week is Cassie Dietrick, a mother of two who worked two jobs and overcame a deployment to Afghanistan, but never stopped working toward a nursing degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison (UW-Madison).
Dietrick completed her nursing education almost entirely online and through clinicals at an area hospital, but very rarely stepped foot on campus. The flexibility of UW-Madison’s online nursing program was integral to her success. When Dietrich started nursing school, she had an associate’s nursing degree and a full-time job at St. Mary’s Hospital, plus a part-time job with the Wisconsin Air National Guard, with two young children to take care of at home.
While most students take two and a half years to complete the program, Dietrick completed the program in one, even though she spent four of those months serving in Afghanistan. Dietrick was halfway through the nursing program at UW-Madison when the Guard called on her to deploy to Afghanistan. At the time, her youngest child wasn’t even one year old yet and she feared that a poor internet connection overseas might delay her studies and self-imposed deadline to graduate.
Dietrick tells madison.com, “I kind of overextended myself, but feel like I do better when my plate is full.”
During her time overseas, Dietrick made a video call home to her kids at the end of each of her shifts, and then threw herself into her coursework, finishing five classes before returning home. She says she wanted to get as much done as possible so that she could spend time with her family when she came home. When her deployment was extended from three months to four, Dietrick still had 60 required hours of clinical observation that were unmet and she would only be weeks from graduation when returning home in November. Thankfully her mentor was willing to pick up extra shifts so that Dietrick could shadow her to get the hours she needed to complete her degree.
Despite all of her setbacks and challenges, Dietrick managed to finish her clinical hours and walk across the stage this past December with her bachelor’s degree in nursing from UW-Madison. To learn more about Cassie Dietrick, a mother of two who worked two jobs and overcame a deployment to Afghanistan, but never stopped working toward her nursing degree, visit here.