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Stephens graduated on June 12 from Oakwood Friends School in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. She began there in tenth grade and is one of a class of 25 students. Stephens works three jobs. She is as a server at a bagel store and an ice cream counter, and she is a hostess at the Justin Thyme restaurant. This fall, she will attend SUNY Brockport in a six-year nursing program that will train her as a nurse practitioner.
“How could I help the most people?” she asked herself. She was advised that nursing can involve even more patient interaction than a doctor might have.
”I really like people,” said Stephens, “and I like to help---as a nurse I can touch so many lives and every day is an adventure.” As for now, Stephens says she is “incredibly sad to leave Oakwood Friends — my second home —because people have been so good to me.”
Stephens’ father was deployed to Afghanistan when she was a sophomore. The reaction of the Oakwood Friends School community was transformative, said Stephens.
“It was a very hard time for me, and there was such an overwhelming amount of support. It changed my view of people and steered me away from being so cynical, to being more positive and having more motivation—I’m able to self motivate as second nature. We were taught here that, with a positive outlook, things are so much better and you are so much more successful.”
“I would be a very different person today if not for Oakwood Friends. I’m excited to learn new things and to branch out and grow and see who I become.”
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