More than 250 graduates and their family and friends celebrated the class’ success during a ceremony Dec. 18.
Photo: LyAvia Patterson, BSN ’24, waves to the audience as she crosses the stage in front of Yolanda Ogbolu, PhD, NNP, FNAP, FAAN, the Bill and Joanne Conway Dean of the University of Maryland School of Nursing, who is immediately to Patterson’s left. Patterson’s husband, her invited pinner, is pictured at right.
One year ago this month, LyAvia Patterson, BSN ’24, was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer.
It was a shock for the then-40-year-old mother of two, especially as she was deeply engaged in completing her Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree at the University of Maryland School of Nursing (UMSON), something she had quit her job to do.
Finding out there was a mass in her colon — and that the cancer had spread to her liver — was shocking. But for Patterson, there was only one path forward.
“I’ve been pushing through — just persevering. It’s all I can do. I have children, I have a husband, I have family that I have to live for,” she said, later adding, “I don’t want sympathy. I want people to recognize that there are going to be challenges in life, you know? There will be adversity that you have to get through, that you just have to push. You have to push through for your goals, for your family, for your own self.”
This week, Patterson celebrated her success at pushing through as she strode across the stage of the Hippodrome Theatre at the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center, officially a graduate of the BSN program.
On Dec. 18, more than 250 graduates and their family and friends celebrated success during UMSON’s graduation ceremony, during which 194 BSN degrees, 59 master’s degrees, three Doctor of Nursing Practice degrees, four Doctor of Philosophy degrees, and four certificates were conferred. Just shy of 200 entry-into-nursing students graduated, ready to enter the workforce.