Peaster mom finds path to success through nonprofit's education program
Jan. 3—Sydney Heard got her love of nursing seeing how it works, her self-discipline from the U.S. Marine Corps and the keys to a fulfilling future from a nonprofit ministry that gives much more than scholarships.
"I want everyone to know about this," the May graduate of Weatherford College said, after describing the practical and expansive help she received from Catholic Charities Fort Worth. "It made me a better mom. It helped me be a better student, it helped me be a better nurse."
The Peaster graduate, now 25, had known she wanted to be a nurse since one of her four brothers, Zachary, landed in the hospital — and their mother felt intense guilt over his burst appendix.
"She was really beating herself up about it, and the nurses were so kind to her," Heard recalled. "To see their compassion and kindness toward my mom, toward our whole family — it just affected me deeply.
"They kept my little brother so entertained at Cook Children's (Hospital). It was like, oohhh, these people have huge hearts, and they genuinely care."
Heard also traces a love of nursing back to high school career day when she'd encountered a nurse there.
"I stayed in her room," she said. "It was like, oh my gosh, this is what I have to do."
The young graduate knew, though, that she lacked the self-discipline to withstand the rigors of nursing studies.
"They are not going to hold your hand," she said she realized.
So, she joined the Marines on a five-year commitment.
"They said, 'No one cares about your career more than you do,'" she said. "The time management and the self-discipline and that same attitude — no one's going to care for your career more than you do."
By the time Heard mustered out, she might have had a Marine's self discipline, but she didn't have a lot of life skills — balancing a checkbook, maintaining a good credit score and such.
She also by then was a single mom to a youngster named Jayden Heard, who would need day care if his mother was going to earn an associate degree.
Through a friend, she caught wind of Catholic Charities Fort Worth's Education Navigation program. She said it sounded like a good idea.
She soon learned no one cared else more about her success than them.
Guided in weekly meetings with her assigned Navigator, Evone Scott, Heard was linked with a tutor and went to a credit scores workshop.
"She actually connected me with counseling that specializes in the military and veterans," Heard said. "That was one of the innumerable things that makes Catholic Charities different."
And Scott was at her side the whole way.
"She was just a life-saver on more than one occasion," Heard said. "I had times I showed up at Evone's office and was just blubbering."
Heard had a job with Medical City Fort Worth waiting when she graduated, stepping into the ER where again her Marine Corps training comes in handy. But she credits the program she found with bridging the gap from the ranks to civilian success.
"It's a scholarship. It is, and that's wonderful," she said. "But it's so much more than a scholarship."
For more information about the Education Navigation program, go to catholiccharitiesfortworth.org.
