Dynamic Duo: Mother and daughter get through nursing program in NWT together

Two dozen nursing students, tired from late-night studying, shuffle into their morning class and begin thumbing through their notes on antibiotics.

Their professor has prepared dozens of slides for the final review of a pharmacology class.

She answers questions from students who are closing off four grueling years of post-secondary education with the hopes of becoming a nurse north of 60.

Jordan Erickson and Jody Prince have both excelled in Aurora College’s Bachelor of Science – Nursing program in Yellowknife – but soon they will not have their instructor to rely on.

Luckily for them they can and have always relied on each other.

That’s because these two students are mother and daughter.

Erickson laughs as she prepares an IV drip during the interview.

“There were moments where I thought, ‘can I really do this? This is a lot,’” she said. “But you push through it and we don’t really get at each other’s throats too much.”

“We actually ground each other.”

The lightheartedness extends as Jody reflects on all of the unique experiences she has had while sharing a classroom with her daughter.

“One of the first days we had to sign a photo consent and she wasn’t allowed to sign it because she wasn’t old enough to consent so I was in her class and she passed her form over,” Prince said.

Prince, who was working in child education before going to nursing school explains that while Erickson did not mind having her mother hit the books with her, there were some who doubted the idea.

“There was an instructor who said when she heard that there was a mother and daughter in the program ‘this is not going to turn out good,’” Prince said.”

For Erickson, she said she found all of her classes to be very interesting, but adjusting to the demands of a new found career was a learning curve.

“The only hard parts I can think of in terms of our practicum was just time management between going to clinical and everyday life,” she said.

“You are just so tired to do the things you regularly want to do.”

Prince who works at the laboratory on campus and proudly sports her Aurora College t-shirt, said she is grateful to be a mature student, but she can’t shake her number one job of being a mother.

“I guess for me you know as a student you worry about your own marks. ‘Am I going to pass this?’ For me it is twofold. ‘Am I going to pass this test and is she going to pass this test? Is she going to do well?’”

As their academic classes wind down for the fall semester, this mother and daughter duo is ready for what lies ahead – a final practicum and then graduation.

“I will just be looking forward to our grad day. But walking across that stage especially walking across the stage with her [Prince] will be really, really good,” Erickson said.