Owens Outstanding Grad Balances Life as Mom & Nursing Student
As a busy mom for two young children, Kimberly Berry wasn’t sure how much time she’d have to become involved in activities outside of the normal academics at Owens Community College.
As it turns out, she made plenty of time.
Berry will graduate in spring 2025 with her associate degree from the Registered Nurse program. She was also named a Barbara Rood Student Choice Award recipient.
“When they announced it at our last exam, I probably turned about 75 shades of red because I had no idea it was coming,” Berry said. “I was very shocked and very honored. It means a lot.”
Berry became involved in multiple organizations at Owens, including the Alpha Delta Nu honor society and the Student Nursing Association (SNA). She recently attended the SNA convention in Seattle.
While getting so heavily involved wasn’t in the plans, she said it’s made the experience so much better.
“It’s been a lot more than coming to class,” Berry said. “It’s been doing practice labs and studying and coming to campus to do study groups. The whole experience has been rewarding.
“As I got into everything, I realized I had time for the extra stuff. … It made the experience more beneficial for me to grow as a person.”
Berry had to balance school work with being a mom as well. She would wake up and study before her kids got up and then study more after they went to sleep. She spent many weekend mornings at the library catching up.
She said her husband, Sam Berry, and her family have been supportive throughout her journey.
“I tried to study during the week as much as possible, but a lot of it was an hour-and-a-half in the morning from like 5-6:30 a.m. and then weekends,” Berry said. “I had a lot of support from my family and my husband’s family. It’s been a learning curve for everyone.”
When she was on campus, Berry didn’t shake her mom persona, though. She became a reliable and dependable person for her classmates.
“They had a running joke, they liked to call me Mom because I was a little bit older than the rest of them,” Berry said. “We’d be at clinical and they’d ask, ‘Who has a pen? Who has a sticky note?’ And I’m like, ‘Here you go!’”
Berry already holds an Owens associate degree from the Dietetic Technician program in 2016. When deciding to come back and pursue nursing, Owens was the natural choice.
“Looking back, I loved the instructors I had here the first time. I know they had a really reputable program. Especially with having kids and a family, it made the most sense. … It was the most flexible to be there for my family and be able to go to school,” Berry said.
Berry will next move into her role as a nurse in the neuro ICU step-down unit at Mercy St. Vincent’s Hospital in Toledo.
And her education isn’t done yet, either. She’s planning on getting her bachelor’s degree and master’s.
For now, though, she’s going to enjoy what she’s accomplished already.
Published April 2025