Graduate Spotlight: Paul Melville

Graduate Paul Melville shares his story: Currently I am a 44 year old husband who has been married for 15 years and dad to two boys. One is a freshman in high school and the other a 4th grader. My history brought me from Wisconsin to Winona State, MN, way back when, to pursue my first degree—Ecology. I graduated, looked for work and found some work that did not pay anything like a college degree should, or so we would think. So the path I chose began its winding, meandering, time eating path. From the Ecology work, I transitioned into sales which became a profitable job this month and not profitable the next. The path continues to give me signs of change around each next corner. Around the next corner introduced me to a new home for the next 15 years as a union carpenter, at this point is where the corner produce a new career a Registered Nurse with a Bachelor of Science of Nursing.

The career as a union carpenter was very good to me until the economic downturn in 2009. I worked 4 months that year with 3 months the next, not the easiest way to raise a family the new path was set. I always loved science, how the body works, and a lover for people and nursing seemed to fit that description. It was a way to provide a service to those people that need help, continue my amazement of the body, and the ever changing science of how to fix or keep the body working as it should.

A lesson learned was, no matter what age you are, you can go back to school, fit in and succeed.

After graduating in August, passing boards in September I am employed as a nurse on a Cardiology wing at the University of Minnesota Medical Center-Fairview. The greatest thing about NAU’s education is

I could do it and wish I would have been this focused as a student the first time my path might not have been so windy.