Caren Kosal didn’t have to roam far from home to make her dreams of becoming a nurse come true.
Kosal, who earned her associate degree in nursing from St. Clair County Community College in 2006, today serves as the trauma program manager at McLaren Port Huron.
“The SC4 nursing program helped me fulfill a lifelong dream of becoming a nurse,” she said. “It is a very humbling experience to help others when they need it most. I am very proud to be a nurse.”
“The SC4 nursing program was very well organized and the instructors were very helpful. SC4 was affordable and conveniently located close to my home, and this helped to make my dream a reality.”
After graduating from Richmond High School in 1988, Kosal worked as an administrative assistant in the orthopedic department at Children’s Hospital from 1988-89 and transferred to the spina bifida clinic where she worked from 1989-96. She went on to work as an administrative assistant for a pediatric orthopedic surgeon until 1999.
She then stayed home with her two young sons for four years, typing medical transcriptions at home before deciding to go back to school.
“I decided to stay home with my first child when I was 29 years old,” she said. “After being home, I knew I really missed working at the hospital but I was ready for more of a leadership role if I were to return. While working in the spina bifida clinic, the manager was a clinical nurse specialist. That’s when I decided I needed to pursue a nursing degree.”
Kosal attended SC4 from 2003-06. While in nursing school, Kosal decided she wanted to become an emergency room nurse when finished with her degree, so she worked part-time as an ER tech at Henry Ford Macomb Hospital until receiving her nursing license.
After graduating from SC4 in 2006, she transitioned to an ER registered nurse role at Henry Ford Macomb.
Kosal said she later decided to apply for an assistant clinical manager position in the ER and was told she needed a bachelor’s degree to be considered.
“I remembered SC4 was affiliated with the University of Michigan-Flint Nursing School at the time, and knew I wouldn’t have a problem with credit transfers,” she said. “I obtained a bachelor’s degree while working full-time hours.”
She finished her bachelor’s degree in nursing from University of Michigan-Flint in December 2013 and the next month became the emergency room manager at McLaren Macomb.
Kosal has been the trauma program manager at McLaren Port Huron since 2017. She lives in Columbus Township with her sons, Noah and Owen, who are now 19 and 17, respectively.
“Without my degree from SC4, I would never have been able to achieve my goals of being a nurse
Donors, students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends enjoyed exploring the SC4 Experience Center’s Dr. Bassam H. Nasr Natural Science Museum before the program. The program featured donor and faculty member Dave Sheldon and student scholarship recipient Jessica Bohm, who is also a three-sport Skippers athlete.
“The Jinny and Bill Sheldon Endowed Scholarship for Education was founded in honor of our parents, Jinny and Bill Sheldon, and their lifelong support of education,” Sheldon said. “Providing financial assistance and support to students is so important, whether it’s through tuition, books or something else. A degree from SC4 can transform a life. We’re so honored to have an impact and we hope many others consider doing the same in the future.”
St. Clair County Community College’s Lambda Mu chapter of Phi Theta Kappa attended the annual Leadership Conference at the Leelanau Outdoor Center in Maple City, Mich., Sept. 6-8. Students Lilian Nelson and Rachel Schmaltz, along with Advisor Angela Heiden, faculty member Debra Gibbons and alumni Lisa Green, Alan May and Tyler Wessel, were in attendance. Green co-presented “Hallmarks Crash Course: Writing Your Chapter’s Story” with Jackson College alumna Nicole Cossum-Ready, and Heiden co-presented with May about difficult conversations in chapters.
