After serving in the U.S. Army, Rosalina Moore pursued nursing because of her daughter\u2019s lifelong goal to work in healthcare.<\/p>\n
She graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington with a bachelor\u2019s degree in nursing in December 2021. Four and half years later, her daughter, Ariana Moore, will do the same this weekend alongside over 1,000 of her nursing student peers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ariana acknowledged her mother\u2019s courage as a nontraditional student inspired her to identify a specific career path.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot more to nursing than what I had previously been exposed to, so getting to see it through my mom opened my eyes,\u201d Ariana said.<\/p>\n
Ariana said she is ready to enter the industry alongside her mom. She\u2019s set to begin a labor and delivery specialization in a Fort Worth hospital.<\/p>\n
Like most mothers, Rosalina\u2019s main feeling ahead of this weekend is a touch of nerves.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I\u2019m also very excited for her,\u201d she added. \u201cVery proud that she\u2019s confident and feeling ready to go into this career.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nursing fun fact\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ariana\u2019s decision to study nursing in Arlington was rooted in her mother\u2019s choice and in the nursing school\u2019s pedigree. UTA\u2019s College of Nursing and Health Innovation is the largest not-for-profit nursing college in the country.<\/p>\n
However, the mother-daughter connection is not exclusive to the university. They both inadvertently had the same professor in two different educational institutions.<\/p>\n
Rosalina\u2019s nursing education began at Central Texas College in Killeen, before eventually going through UTA\u2019s registered nurse to bachelor of science in nursing\u2019s program and graduating in December 2021.<\/p>\n
At Central Texas College, Rosalina met Veronica King, then a nursing educator for nontraditional students. King is now a clinical nursing professor at UTA who taught Ariana in one of her final courses at the school.<\/p>\n
The reunion? Completely serendipitous, King said, and was realized in an email sent by Ariana in the fall 2025 semester.<\/p>\n
\u201cFun fact: I interviewed you when I was in eighth grade. My mom reminded me because she recognized your name on the program for the nursing pinning ceremony,\u201d King recalled, repeating the content of Ariana\u2019s email.<\/p>\n
In her 17 years as a nursing educator, this is the first time she\u2019s taught both a parent and a child.<\/p>\n
King is honored to be a small part of their stories.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve known them both collectively, I also greatly appreciate them individually and the stories we have,\u201d King said. \u201cIt\u2019s exciting. It just warms my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n
A family in a needed industry<\/p>\n
King asks all her students, who are seniors in the final months of their education, to reflect on why they entered into nursing.<\/p>\n
She acknowledged the industry has shifted significantly since she started. The biggest change is the growing need. Texas is set to reach a shortage of most nurse types by 2032, according to the Department of State Health Services<\/a>. The demand for full-time registered nurses that same year will exceed the supply by 57,000, according to the Texas Hospital Association<\/a>.<\/p>\n For King, this demand makes early outreach and education vital for the industry.<\/p>\n \u201cMany of them do talk about connecting to nursing through a nurse,\u201d King said of her students. \u201cA nurse who was at their school, a nurse who took care of them when they were a patient, a nurse who took care of their grandparents who were passing.\u201d<\/p>\n Ariana\u2019s story is no exception. She met King in the eighth grade to interview the nurse educator for a class assignment about healthcare careers. That conversation was pivotal, Ariana said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was asking Dr. King questions, I realized the nurses are kind of the ones on the scene, in the mix,\u201d Ariana said. \u201cThat\u2019s what shifted just healthcare in general into nursing for me.\u201d<\/p>\n The impact is not exclusive to the K-12 setting. For nontraditional students, the support and guidance from an educator is valuable as they are often in a transitional point in their lives, Rosalina said.<\/p>\n \u201cProfessor King was my nursing professor in my first semester of nursing school at Central Texas College,\u201d Rosalina said. \u201cShe was one of the professors that really impacted us. She showed a lot of caring for us, and really wanted to guide us and get us to become nurses and become passionate about what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n Ahead of the graduation this weekend, King said she is honored to have had a direct impact on Ariana\u2019s career.<\/p>\n \u201cI love that for her, that she found inspiration in (the interview), and I love that she put the work in to get here, because she deserves a lot of credit for that,\u201d King added.<\/p>\n Ismael M. Belkoura is the health reporter for the Fort Worth Report. His position is supported by a grant from Texas Health Resources. Contact him at ismael.belkoura@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n