Alumni Spotlight

Meet Paula Vasek

- BSN '01

- MS Nurse Educator '04

- MS FNP '05

 

Read below about Paula's trek through three of our program offerings...

Paula Vasek and husband Nate

My story is one that starts off quite amusing. When I was in Junior High and High School, I was so nervous about going to the dentist, doctor, eye doctor, and hospital, that I would actually faint because of my fear. It was a ridiculous reaction to a ridiculous fear and my mom was getting tired of it. To help me get over my fear, my mom and I decided I would enroll in the Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) course at the high school. I was facing my fear not knowing that this decision would direct the rest of my career. As soon as I started working at the hospital, I realized that I really enjoyed what I was doing. I loved to help people and I loved to love people.

When I finished high school, I didn’t hesitate in my decision to major in Nursing at the University of Wyoming. After four years of nursing school, I moved to Tacoma, Washington, where I worked in a pediatric Emergency Room (ER) in a regional trauma center. I went from fainting at the thought of going to a doctor, to working in the most gruesome, heartbreaking field I could imagine. And I loved it! After a few years of working in the ER, I became a preceptor for nursing students in the ER where I discovered my love for teaching. After much research on Nurse Educator Master’s programs, my heart directed me back to my roots in Wyoming. I started the online Nurse Educator program through UW in 2002. I continued my job in Washington and found I could still thrive in my job, while advancing my degree. On my days off, I was busy working on my courses, and really enjoying the direction God was leading me.

After a year of the online program and continued work, I met a great guy, Nate, while visiting my family in Laramie. We immediately clicked and developed a relationship. This relationship continued long distance for six months. Throughout these six months, I felt another pull and interest in being a Nurse Practitioner. This pull would require a move back home, which I secretly desired so I could be close to Nate. I loved nursing, but I wanted to help and do more than what I was doing as a nurse. I also wanted to finish my nurse educator degree so that I could use this to be an effective preceptor and teacher while being a Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP). I was accepted into the FNP program at UW in the fall of 2003. I found the classes fun, interesting, and extremely challenging (which I loved!). I think I was more nervous in this portion of my career than when I started my first IV in nursing school. I learned that I could continue loving and helping people, but in a much different way. I had to make critical decisions on diagnosing and treating a patient; decisions that in my previous career in the ER were already made and I just had to implement.

Anyway, I toggled my hats back and forth between the FNP and Nurse Educator program for 3 years. Doing both programs at once was intense and pretty much consumed my life, but well worth it when I finished. Now I work in a women and children’s clinic in Laramie. Not only have I used my education and FNP degree at the clinic, I have also had the opportunity to speak and teach in Ireland and Romania. I often can not believe how greatly I have been blessed by God to get me through these two programs and now has provided me with my dream job, and my husband Nate! I love my career as a Nurse Practitioner. And I love my background in education. The two combined allows me to not only precept students, but be more effective in teaching and educating my patients. Because of the direction God took me, I was brought back to the place I love and grew up in, the place that I love more than any other place, Wyoming.