Throughout life, we all make choices. We also face barriers on the way to goals. As Stephanie Johnson looks back on the point where she turned her life around, she sees the two intersecting.
“I made choices that put barriers in my way,” said Johnson.
Born in Minnesota, Johnson and her family moved around the Midwest throughout her childhood, making their way to Texas when she was 10, first to Leander and later to Austin. She went to high school in Austin, taking advantage of the opportunity to take dual-enrollment classes that allowed her to earn high-school and college credits simultaneously.
Johnson’s parents moved to Edinburg so her dad could pursue a master’s degree; she followed them in 2009. Although she had earned a certified nursing assistant certificate, she took a job as a customer service agent for a local call center, Teleperformance, because she could earn more.
Johnson had a nagging feeling that she needed to return to college, but she had formed a group of friends walking completely different paths. She began dating one of them, later becoming pregnant. Before long, the choices she had made left her in a lonely and alarming place — as a single mother, desperately struggling to support herself and her infant son.
Johnson knew returning to school offered her the greatest hope, so she enrolled at The University of Texas – Pan American (now The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley), majoring in nursing. She had completed most of her basics in Austin but she had two full years to go to earn a Bachelor of Science in Nursing.
Nearing the end of her first year, unsure how she could possibly afford tuition, books, child care and living expenses, Johnson jumped at the chance to apply to the Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement as soon as she heard about it. For over 25 years, VIDA has provided financial assistance, individual and group college and career counseling, and invaluable support to unemployed and underemployed residents of the Rio Grande Valley ready to pursue a career in a high-demand field.
“I was a single mother and I needed help,” Johnson said. “We were starting clinicals and it was very intense.”
VIDA accepted Johnson, and the trajectory of her life changed. In addition to paying for her tuition, VIDA paid for her books and child care, lifting a tremendous burden.
“Books are hundreds of dollars,” Johnson said. “And child care. These are the things that make people drop out.”
In addition to the priceless financial assistance, Johnson said accountability to VIDA kept her on track.
“You have someone rooting for you, and you don’t want to let that person down,” she said. That someone was her case manager/career counselor.
In December 2012, Johnson graduated with her BSN. Her parents had moved to Corpus Christi, and they took her and her son in while she studied for her national licensing exam. She passed and took her first job as a registered nurse in Corpus Christi.
While in Corpus Christi, she reconnected with her boyfriend in Austin (back when she was 18), Marcus Johnson. That reconnection led to marriage, a move to Austin, and raising their four sons — two together, as well as her son and his son.
For nine years, Johnson has worked at St. David’s Medical Center in Austin, first as a staff nurse, then as an occasional charge nurse, a supervisor, a night manager and now a day manager.
“Thanks to VIDA, I am able to provide for my family, we were able to buy a home, and I have been eligible for all of these promotions. And I am still eligible for more promotions,” Johnson said.
She offers words of advice to those who find themselves in situations similar to those she lived through. “If you have been through heartbreak before, even if you fee! terrible, with physical pain. That does not mean you should go back to what was causing you pain. It will go away. Continue toward your goals. You WILL heal and a degree can open so many doors to you for your future.”
It’s all about choices and overcoming barriers. Johnson is living proof of that.