She found support through her family — and an advisor who went above and beyond.

Nasu is no stranger to big life changes. Just consider the places she’s called home. She grew up in three very different locales, being born in the arid heat of Dallas, Texas, then raised in the tropics of Sierra Leone before returning to the United States, where she attended high school and college in Maryland.

Another defining life change occurred in her undergraduate years, during which she began pursuing her education in fashion before refocusing her trajectory toward nursing. That’s where she found her life’s calling.

After graduating and spending years in the field, the fashionista-turned-nurse was confident in her career skills, but she knew she wasn’t finished growing. Her next step was to become a nurse practitioner.

“I’m an expert nurse,” she says, “but a novice NP.”

When she decided to make the jump toward becoming a psychiatric mental health NP, she says three things were important to her in choosing an MSN program: prestige, challenge, and student support.

“I wanted … a school that is prestigious that I could be proud of,” she says. “A school [where] if I needed any kind of resources or wanted to reach out to anybody, it doesn’t have to be a struggle. Pretty much that was my big thing, especially being online, out of state.”

Maryville checked all the boxes. In her research, Nasu recognized Maryville’s online MSN program had a rigorous curriculum and experiential components that served as a refresher and helped her gain more experience to prepare for her career as a psychiatric mental health NP. She took full advantage of the degree requirements to soak in as much nursing practice as she could, knowing every bit would help her be the best nurse she could be.

Throughout the duration of her MSN, Nasu knew she had a support network, both from her family and from Maryville. Her relationship with her student advisor, Kristina, is part of what kept her going when times were tough.

“She’s been there throughout,” Nasu says. “She will call me some days and I’m just in tears, like, ‘I don’t know if I can do this,’ and she’s like, ‘Nasu, I need you to calm down. What can I do to help?”

Even when unexpected and stressful situations arose for Nasu, like when her second child was in the NICU, Kristina was there to provide support and help her navigate the challenges.

“I felt like she knows me and my family through the program,” Nasu says of her advisor. “My kid was in the NICU, and her and I were on the phone because I was still in a class, and it was like a couple weeks left for the class to end. She was just calling me just to check on me to make sure I was OK.”

When Maryville University reopened its commencement ceremony to graduates and attendants in April 2022 — the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic turned the auspicious occasions to remote events — Nasu was there to celebrate in person. She missed her high school and undergraduate commencement ceremonies, but she was determined to walk across that stage for her MSN.

Her family was there to cheer her on — and so was Kristina. Nasu took the opportunity to meet her advisor during the pre-graduation festivities on campus.

“She is like a godsend,” Nasu says. “She’s the reason why I came to this open house today — to meet her in person.”

Kristina was just as excited for the chance to meet Nasu and celebrate her achievements.

“I mean, you work with them from the beginning, which is great, and you’re really being able to see them through the highs and the lows,” Kristina says. “But seeing them get to the end is always, for me, the icing on top of the cake.”