Marion G. Layton (Zawislak), RN, BSN, MEd

I had just completed two years and gotten my RN at a hospital program. FIU was the first program that would give me my bachelor's degree in two years; I wouldn't have to repeat basic Nursing 101. I got my nursing credits from my state boards. I went there from my own apartment, and I worked full-time in oncology at Jackson Memorial Hospital. I had some fantastic instructors who were doctors in their fields. That made a big difference. I learned physiology from a doctor who explained all of the workings of the human body. I was challenged with thesis that I had to do. I had to do research, and it was a very different school atmosphere than what I had previously. When I got my RN, I started out in postpartum and worked in a neonatal intensive care unit. Then I worked in pediatrics and decided that I was going to go back for my bachelor's degree. Both of my brothers got their degrees at the University of Miami, and my younger brother told me about FIU. They were doing a special program where I could do the four years in two years. I met my husband when I had six months left to get my degree. We got married, and then we went to Arizona. I was like a traveling nurse before traveling nurses. I loved it. I got to see what it was like in all of the different states, including Hawaii. We spent three years there, and I worked in oncology.