Academic Excellence Awards Luncheon
North Carolina Community College System
April 24, 2007
Hi, my name is Marti Curtis. And I am here to tell you my story…it’s a little different from the others you might have heard. As you might have guessed I'm not from around here.
I grew up in Northern Ireland which is a very beautiful country. But it's also a country in turmoil, Catholics versus Protestants and unimaginable acts being committed against the public by all these groups. I grew up listening to bombs, hearing gunshots, and going to sleep to the sound of sirens. I saw friends and family maimed and killed. I saw the empty desks in school. And the flowers and wreaths were marking spots where someone had been struck down on city streets. During this time school days were frequently interrupted by bomb scares and when I was eleven I was actually injured in a bomb explosion resulting in the loss of hearing in my left ear.
At sixteen I completed my O levels and would have gone on to do A levels entitling me to go on to university. However my family was very poor and I had to leave school to go to work. I started work in a retail store at 16 and by the time I was 19, I was a manager. I continued in my career, including managing stores in London, until I married when I was 25.
After I married and started a family, I stopped working to be with my young children but as they grew older I found that I missed the contact with public. A friend persuaded me to work as a health care nurse. This meant that I would travel about Northern Ireland and would have a group of patients that I would see on a regular basis. I checked to be sure they’d taken their medications as they were supposed to, changed bandages, help them make arrangements for personal business and try to make things a little bit easier for them at home. I found that I really enjoyed helping people. It was my way to make things better amid all the destruction that my countrymen were wreaking on each other. My soul felt refreshed and filled.
Time passed and as things do, things changed and my husband and I drifted apart and eventually divorced. The fighting continued and seemed to get worse day by day and for the safety of my family I felt I had to leave. After considering my options I decided to move to America. I had met friends on the Internet from North Carolina and decided that that climate was close to what I used to and it would be an excellent place to raise my family.
I met and married a wonderful man named David Curtis. After our marriage, I began to look at the different career possibilities. My job in Ireland as an NA 1 drew me towards nursing as a profession. My husband suggested the local community college (Beaufort County Community College) as they had the best pass rate for the NCLEX exams. I was upset; in Ireland, community colleges are associated with exceptional learning facilities for those with learning difficulties and as a place where retirees can learn pottery and wood working. He finally helped me to understand and I went to Gary Burbage to apply for admission. There we ran into some difficulties as Gary and I tried to match up my education with the entry requirements. After a few frustrating months and long distance calls to Ireland, Gary was finally satisfied and I took the entrance exam.
I was very surprised at how well I had done being out of school was long as I had been, and of course I had a few classes I had to take to refresh what I'd forgotten. But I found I was having fun. I was able to develop a circle of friends outside of my family. I could actually have adult conversations with someone other than my husband and it was wonderful! I found instructors were eager to help me and the courses that I took were very interesting. My children and I began competing for good grades. I challenged them and they challenged me, and surprise, surprise all of our grades improved.
I was accepted into nursing school in April 2005 and began the first of five semesters in August. My accent caused some amusing situations including during my first check off, I told the instructor my partners’ pulse was eighty-eight which to her (with my accent) sounded like “idiot”. Thankfully my partner translated for me, she and I had been in classes for over a year together. There was also the occasion when I said to a patient “Are you in pain?” which she heard as “Are you peeing?” For the most part people understand me and when they don’t my classmates or instructors translate for me.
I am a member of Gamma Beta Phi, a college ambassador and this year I was nominated for Who’s Who of Junior Colleges, I am also a class representative. I have thoroughly enjoyed the last four semesters and I am very excited to be graduating since we don’t have graduation ceremonies in Ireland. This will be a first in my family. My mother and sister are coming over to see me graduate. I’m thrilled to have been able to keep up with my fellow students after a 22-year gap in my education.
It has taken almost four years, but I'm finally ready to graduate as an RN. I realize that there is a lot of long hours and very hard work ahead. But the personal rewards I see on my horizon, the security I'll be able to provide my family far outweighs the hardships I see ahead. And God willing, I'll be able to give back something to a community that has already given me so much. I want to leave you with one last comment, be grateful for all you have in this country, the freedom, the sunshine, the people and most of all the opportunities. You gave me the chance to start over, to reinvent myself and to accomplish a lifelong dream. Thank you.
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