Marissa Smith

At a very young age, Marissa's family encouraged her to seek a college education after high school. After years of watching the TV show "Cops" with her dad, she was certain she wanted to be a police officer.

It wasn’t until her junior year of high school that Marissa changed her mind and decided to pursue a nursing degree. “It wasn’t completely random,” she teases. “I had been watching a lot of 'Grey’s Anatomy' and thought to myself, ‘I don’t want to be a surgeon, but I could be a nurse.’”

When Marissa was ready to apply to the nursing program, she was faced with a discouraging reality check about her grades and the possibility of not being accepted into such a competitive program. Her advisor encouraged to have a backup plan just in case.

Feeling initially disappointed and confused, she changed her major to criminal justice. Luckily her parents were a positive force, and their words of encouragement and a long talk with her dad convinced her to change her major back to nursing. “He said, ‘You’ve got this. Apply and see what happens. If you’re accepted, then give it a semester and see if you like it.'” Marissa says she’s forever grateful for that talk because after the first day in the nursing program, she knew this was where she was meant to be.

As a first-generation student, Marissa says she initially struggled with things like scheduling classes, buying books, and setting up payment plans. This was all foreign to her and her family. She says she is so thankful for her friends and faculty who have helped her figure things out along the way. “My go-to person is Ekaterina Smith; she is my pharm and clinical instructor who has also been a big advocate for me.”

Marissa leaves first-gen students with this message of encouragement: “You can do absolutely anything you want.” Laughing she added, "And C's get degrees!"

This is Marissa Smith, a senior nursing major who will graduate in May, and she is #First2Go.