The sky's the limit

Karen Johnson-Guy has spent much of her life as a high flyer—literally.

Before enrolling in CWRU's Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, Johnson-Guy worked for nine years as a flight attendant with Northwest Airlines. In that position she traveled to virtually every part of the globe. In between her globe-trotting, Johnson-Guy, a native of Minneapolis, met her husband and gave birth to five daughters.

It was those experiences which piqued her interest in nursing as a career.

"I saw for myself how important nurses are, especially in the process of delivering babies. The ones who helped me in my deliveries really inspired me," she said.

Johnson-Guy was attracted to the Bolton School because of the strong reputation of its program in nurse-midwifery.

"I had heard great things about CWRU and the Bolton School, but I didn't think I could get accepted," she said. Not only was she accepted to the bachelor's program—She will graduate May 19.—but she also has been accepted into the school's master's program in nurse-midwifery, which she will begin in the fall.

Juggling the often demanding course and clinical work in the BSN program with the responsibilities of parenthood has often been a challenge, she admits.

"Fortunately, I have an extremely supportive husband with a flexible job, which allows him to be with our children a lot," she said.

Another challenge, at least initially, was her nontraditional student status.

"I was the only married person, the only one over 25 and the only one with children," she said. "At first it felt a little awkward, but my classmates and the faculty at the school were very supportive."

In between her studies and family, Johnson-Guy has found time to be president of her children's' preschool PTA, lead a Girl Scout troop and coordinate the "Stork's Nest," a program at Huron Road Hospital in East Cleveland to help reduce the number of low birthweight babies.

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