New WWU program prepares nurses for future of health care

Although Carla Norris and her daughter Carrie Holtrop were both working nurses, they realized their nursing education was far from over.

Norris and Holtrop went back to school last year to earn a bachelor of science in nursing degree at Western Washington University. On Saturday, Dec. 13, the mother and daughter will be part of the first cohort to graduate from Western’s RN-to-BSN program that began last fall.

The program gives registered nurses the opportunity to work full time while earning a BSN degree that is increasingly becoming necessary. Norris, from Marysville, and Holtrop, from Ferndale, will graduate with 22 other nurses.