When Faith Poellnitz, 22, shares her story, you can't help but sit up and listen.
Faith was in the ninth grade at Birmingham's Jackson-Olin High School when a healthcare class gave her the first real glimpse of what her life and college life-might have in store. "I had no idea what I wanted to do at first," she says. "But that class was interesting. It opened something up."
Around the same time, both of her grandparents were seriously ill, one with dementia, the other with cancer. Faith watched and worried and did not have the words or knowledge to make sense of what she was seeing as they each began extensive treatments before ultimately passing away. "I didn't know what was going on," she says, "but I wanted to know." That desire would stay with her.
Later in high school, a college financial aid advisor visited Jackson-Olin and walked students through how to get to and through college. "That's what brought me to Lawson State," says Faith, who decided to pursue nursing.
Getting started was not easy, she added. "School came easy to me earlier in life. I passed without having to study much," she recalls. "When I got to Lawson, I had to read a lot, hours at a time." She almost failed her first semester. Lawson demanded more of her.
What followed was a reckoning. Faith talked with her instructors, seeking academic help, and began listening more carefully to the faculty and students around her. She rebuilt her approach from the ground up.
"I did a whole 360, not just 180," she says with a laugh, noting that she felt like it was a fundamental shift. That meant learning how to study alone for intense focus, and in groups where she could clarify, ask questions, and fill in gaps. "Another thing was that I grew in my fait...I got closer to God," she says. "It was a true wake up call. Knowing that this degree was something I wanted for myself, I had to revamp."
Plus, Faith was doing all of this while raising her daughter, who is now five years old and will be in the stands cheering for her mom on graduation day. She credits a strong circle of support and hard work-for carrying her this far.
Beyond excelling in the classroom, nursing students must put what they are learning into practice. Faith's clinical rotations took her to St. Vincent's Hospital, UAB Medical, Encompass, and Brookwood Health, giving her exposure across a range of care environments.
As for where she will land, she is keeping her options open. "I want to work in the ICU, and I love babies. I haven't ruled out pediatrics," she says. "I want to get some experience in both."
Her advice to students coming up behind her is clear: "Just do it," Faith says. "Develop great study habits, because that's going to be the biggest key to making it through, along with time management. At first, I did not have those skills."
Now she is graduating from college, thanks to scholarships she earned after high school and while at Lawson State.
Her mother, who raised her alone, is proud, and so are other relatives who went to college, but did not finish. The grandmother and grandfather who first stirred her curiosity about healthcare are gone, but she still draws on their memory and influence for strength.
"Anything is possible," Faith says. "No matter your situation or what you're going through, anything is possible. I'm here. I have a daughter. I lost both of my grandparents. I was raised by a single mom. I'm here, debt-free."
