2008 Woodie Awards
Triumph against adversity
Single mother of five earns degree
Jennifer DeMoss
Issue date: 1/16/07 Section: Inside WCC
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"My kids are still talking about graduation," said Bowhall. "They were probably the worst ones there."
Bowhall's story is no less than inspiring. She is, as she says, both mother and father to her kids. When working on her degree she had a sleep schedule that would send terror into the heart of the worst insomniac.
"I go to school all day and then drop the role of a student and become Mom," said Bowhall about a typical day in her life when she was attending WCC. "I have to help them do their homework. I put them to bed and nap, and then get up at midnight and do homework all night long and then go to school the next day with no sleep." She laughed and said, "Having kids is no joke, it's really hard."
Balancing school, work, and children wasn't the toughest part of Bowhall's educational progress. She also lived with domestic violence during her years with her husband, with whom she separated about 2 years after starting the nursing program.
"The experience made me a lot stronger," said Bowhall. "I took all of the negative things in my life and turned them into positives." Her children were a driving force behind the split with her husband and her educational success: "I wanted to better myself so that my daughters wouldn't have to put up with the same things I put up with."
She was inspired on many different levels to join the nursing program. Her grandfather was a nurse, and she enjoys helping others. "You get to make others smile," she said as she explained her current position at St. Joe's hospital, where she has been a nursing tech for 12 years. "When you're a nurse, you get to watch people get better. You also see the bad side, too, and realize that you're not that bad off. Some of the sick people can't get better, but you can change your life, and it's important to change it as early as possible to break the cycle."
Bowhall has high hopes that her story might help others see the positive sides of the sacrifice it takes to get an education. "I just feel that getting an education is so important. No one can take that away from you," said Bowhall. "People think, 'I have kids, I can't [go to school] with kids.' But if I can do it, anybody can do it."
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