---
title: How One Nursing Student is Turning Tragedy into Healing
url: "https://arizonacollege.edu/blog/nursing-student-turns-tragedy-into-healing/"
type: post
date_published: 2026-09-14
date_modified: 2026-09-14
schema:
  @type: Article
language: en-US
word_count: 945
reading_time: 5 min
canonical: "https://arizonacollege.edu/blog/nursing-student-turns-tragedy-into-healing/"
featured_image: "https://arizonacollege.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Nursing-Program-Scholarship-Recipient-Jahmya-Moore.webp"
categories:
  - Nursing School
topic:
  - Nursing
---

# How One Nursing Student is Turning Tragedy into Healing

![Nursing Program Scholarship Recipient Jahmya Moore](https://arizonacollege.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Nursing-Program-Scholarship-Recipient-Jahmya-Moore.webp)

_This is a multi-part series celebrating Arizona College of Nursing students, their stories, and their embodiment of the AZCN values._

_In 2023, Arizona College of Nursing established the AZCN Values Scholarship Fund as a way to celebrate our values with our colleagues, our students, and the communities in which we serve. Each time an AZCN colleague recognizes another colleague for demonstrating our values, $5 is added to the scholarship fund. These add up to $5,000 scholarships awarded to students the following year who have demonstrated our values within their communities._

_Join us in celebrating 2025 AZCN Values Scholarship recipient Jahmya Moore as she shares some of her journey to nursing:_

## AZCN Student Aligns Her Passion with a Mission

Meet AZCN Values Scholarship Recipient, Jahmya Moore, a Nursing Student at the
[AZCN Phoenix Campus](https://arizonacollege.edu/phoenix-nursing-school/).
Inspired by the strong women in her family to become a nurse, Jahmya is
dedicated to transforming her personal experiences with loss into a source of
comfort and strength for her future patients.

Watch Jahmya’s video here:

## Jahmya Shares Her Path to Nursing

I’ve always believed that my purpose on this earth is to spread love and help
people in need. I am an extreme empath who feels things deeply, and I carry not
only my own pain but the pain of those around me. That part of me has shaped
everything I do, especially my dream of
[becoming a nurse](https://arizonacollege.edu/accredited-bsn-program/why-azcn/).

Some of the most defining moments of my life have come through loss. Not long
ago, I lost my first cousin to gun violence. I was still grieving when, just
weeks later, I lost the father of my daughter the same way. I will never forget
the moment I saw his body lying cold on the ground in front of me. That image is
something I carry every day, and it’s not out of weakness, but as fuel for my
purpose. I remember feeling helpless in that moment, wishing I could have done
something to save him. That feeling is what drives me to become a nurse, to
never stand helpless when someone is in need again. To do everything I can to
prevent another human being feeling the way I felt.

![Nursing School Scholarship Award Group](https://arizonacollege.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Nursing-School-Scholarship-Award-Group.webp?w=866)

Nursing is not just a profession to me; it is personal. It is my way of turning
pain into purpose. I want to be there for people in their most vulnerable
moments and offer not just
[clinical care](https://arizonacollege.edu/accredited-bsn-program/skills-and-science-lab/)
, but true compassion. I know what it feels like to suffer in silence, and I
want to be a comforting presence to those who are hurting emotionally and
physically. Nursing also runs in my blood. My mother, grandmother, and cousin
are all nurses. They’ve shown me what it means to lead with empathy, strength,
and selflessness. They are both head of their departments and that’s something I
look up to. I plan to carry that same legacy, but with my own voice and mission,
which is to be a light in places where people often feel darkness.

## Q&A with Jahmya

**Q:** When did you know you wanted to be a nurse?
**J:** I graduated from high school early so I could start school because I
wanted to be a surgeon. But after getting pregnant, things happened, and I
wasn’t in school; I was trying to take care of my child. I just felt like I
wanted to do something and put my skills to use. I wanted to use my heart for
the right reasons. I was depressed during my whole pregnancy, and I couldn’t
work, couldn’t eat, sleep, nothing. I wasn’t thinking about school, but seeing
my mom come home from work and tell her stories with her scrubs on about how she
helped people, and even seeing my grandma, who could retire, but still chooses
to work as a nurse, motivated me to just snap out of it.

**Q:** What made you apply to Arizona College of Nursing?

**J:** I enrolled at another school that was online, but I felt like I needed to
be in person. I already started my classes, and I didn’t want to quit again when
I just started, so I said I was going to finish my pre-reqs and just see if I
could transfer… [At] Arizona College of Nursing, we came in person to class, I
could be face to face to my instructors, and I could ask for help. It was all
better for me in person rather than online. [Once I started,] everyone was so
nice, the staff was amazing and helped me get to my classes, all my teachers
were so nice, and the classmates were so helpful. I felt like this is where I
need to be.

**Q:** What does receiving the Values Scholarship mean to you?
**J:** [Receiving this scholarship] boosted my self-esteem, my confidence, and
made me realize that I can do whatever I put my mind to. Just keep going no
matter what and don’t quit again, don’t run. It really grounded me and made me
look at the school differently since I also won a scholarship for single moms,
and that is helping a lot. Both [scholarships] have changed how the rest of my
couple of years [at AZCN] are going to go and make me feel like people are
behind [me] and supporting [me]. They want to see [us] succeed.

**Categories:** Nursing School