EDUCATION
104
Trends In Education
MOLLY BARTELS
Mason Bass and her mother Victoria Bass graduated together with Bachelor of Science
degrees in nursing from IRSC.
In May 2020, Mason Bass graduated from IRSC
with an associate degree in nursing and passed the
National Council Licensure Examination for Registered
Nurse the following month. After receiving her
license, she was hired as a cardiac stepdown nurse at
Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital.
Bass says that from the skills labs to clinicals, the
RN program prepared her to become a well-rounded
nurse. She points out that the school taught her a
lot about the fundamentals of nursing that go far
beyond what she could learn from a book.
“The most important part of nursing school was
the foundation,” she explains. “You can’t just become
a nurse. You have to learn how to be a nurse, and
you have to learn why you’re doing certain things. It
takes the entire two years of the program to understand
the process.”
Registered nurses oftentimes want to move up the
career ladder and work in management-level positions.
The Bachelor of Science in nursing program at
the college allows nurses to advance to leadership
roles at a medical facility.
After earning her degree in August, Bass was hired
as a clinical assistant III in dermatology by Cleveland
Clinic Indian River Hospital. For Bass, getting her
degree at IRSC was a no-brainer because the school
is close to home, plus it offers flexible class schedules
and affordable tuition compared with a university.
She also says that the program helped further her
MOLLY BARTELS
>>
Nearly all of IRSC’s registered nursing program graduates go on to work in hospitals and clinics throughout the Treasure Coast.
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