By GABRIELLE MARTIN, Staff Reporter.
The playwright G.B. Shaw once said, “The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want and if they can’t find them, make them.” Milissa Kraych, a former Delta student who went from a high school dropout to a registered LPN is someone who has made her own circumstances.
Kraych says she had a rough start in life and after getting kicked out of her house, she dropped out of high school classes at the age of 17. To survive, Kraych began working at Burger King and A&W while living out of her car.
At the age of 24, Kraych finished her high school education and attending Delta at age 25.
“I wanted a stable future,” says Kraych, “I was at that point where I needed to do something. I kind of felt like a loser.”
When she started at Delta, Kraych had to start at the bottom with prerequisites so it took her three years of going to school part time to get into the Physical Therapist Assistant program. While in the PTA program, Kraych became pregnant with twins, who were born prematurely and had a few health problems, forcing Kraych to drop classes.
Kraych did come back to Delta but did not stay in the PTA program.
“I didn’t feel like I was in the right place,” says Kraych. Her advisor at the time steered her toward nursing and there Kraych found her passion. Teri Ricketts, an instructor in the Nursing program at Delta, and mentor of Kraych speaks of her dedication and hard work.
“She never missed a day of class. Ever,” says Ricketts, “She never missed a day of clinicals.” Ricketts goes on to say that one day when Kraych’s vehicle broke down, she walked to classes.
Rickets says Kraych was excellent in clinicals but struggled with tests.
“She struggled. She had to study her butt off…We had a lot of cry sessions,” says Ricketts.
Kraych says she has dyslexia which made studying and book work challenging. However, that didn’t stop her from persevering.
“I always had my books with me,” says Kraych. “When I went to the bathroom and just everywhere.”
After years of hard work, Kraych graduated from the LPN program (Licensed Practical Nurse) in August of 2014. Ricketts says that day there were tears of joy in Kraych’s eyes.
Kraych now works at Helping Hand Healthcare as a field nurse. She has two classes left at Delta to qualify for the transition track from LPN to RN (Registered Nurse) but right now money is an issue as she has student loans to pay off.
“If I had half of the strength that woman has, I’d be superwoman,” says Rickett
