From her early days working in the ICU to her current role managing a head and neck cancer clinic, Ashlynn Capace has built her career on the principles of care and compassion.
“Nursing just makes sense with my personality,” she says. “It’s in my nature to take care of people and comfort them.”
But as Capace climbed the ranks, she faced a challenge: advancing further would require her to earn a bachelor’s degree.
“I had no intention of going back to school,” she admits. “But they told me the only way to move up in leadership was to get my degree, so that’s what I did.”
That’s when she enrolled in UL Lafayette’s online RN to BSN program.
Choosing Nursing
Capace always knew nursing was her path.
After high school, she enrolled at a university in Hammond, eager to pursue her dream.
But after three years, something still felt incomplete. Drawn back to her hometown, she decided to continue her education at Baton Rouge General School of Nursing.
“An RN diploma is a non-degree training program,” she explains. “So, I graduated with my RN diploma in 2015.”
From there, life moved quickly.
In January of 2016, Capace welcomed her first child, and by July, she started her career in the ICU.
As Capace grew in her role, she felt ready to take on more responsibility.
After almost two years in the ICU, she transferred to the head and neck clinic where she worked her way up to supervisor.
However, to move forward, earning her BSN was essential.
“I was motivated to go back to school by the opportunity for growth in my organization,” she says. “I really like the mission of the hospital and the providers I work with.”
But with a busy professional life and a growing family, she needed a program that would fit into her schedule as well as her professional goals.
She began researching and gathering feedback from her nursing colleagues who had recently earned their BSN.
“Many of them did UL Lafayette’s online RN to BSN program,” she says. “I really liked that it was affordable and offered accelerated semesters, so that’s what led me here.”
Readjusting to Online Delivery
Returning to school while juggling work and family life was no easy task, but the online RN to BSN program offered Capace the flexibility she needed to make it work.
“I have one biological daughter, and I’ve fostered 10 children. I work full-time. I coached softball and basketball,” she recalls.
“I really had to get organized and make the most of my time because I knew I had to be structured in order to hit my goals in school.”
Even while completing her courses, Capace was also working towards her Certified Otorhinolaryngology Nurse (CORLN) certification, which she earned in October 2023.
With so much on her plate, finding time to study meant getting creative with her approach to schoolwork.
“I would give my daughter a notebook and she would write some of the notes while I was listening to a lecture,” she says. “She just scribbled on it, but it was a way to keep her involved and not feel guilty about doing something for me.”
Because UL Lafayette’s online RN to BSN courses are 100% online with no set class times, Capace could work around her family’s schedule and even vacations.
“I worked on some assignments during a trip to Disney, I worked on some stuff at the beach,” she says. “I just loved that I could still have an active life even though I was in school. I think that was the best part.”
Capace also appreciated that the faculty recognized the unique challenges faced by working nurses.
“The professors wanted to support us through it and understood that we were balancing a lot of things, but at the end of the day, we still had to handle business,” she says.
New Degree, New Opportunity
Through the RN to BSN program, Capace gained new skills she’s applying to her current role, along with the credential she needs to access new opportunities.
“Joint Commission is the accrediting body for my clinic,” she says. “And I’m better able to research answers to Joint Commission questions that come up because of the researching skills I developed in the program.”
Juggling her duties as a nurse, a mother, and a student wasn’t always easy, but through it all, her determination never wavered.
“I got through it knowing I’m a mom, knowing that someone is looking up to me,” Capace says. “You're setting an example that you can do anything you put your mind to; I know it's so cliche, but it's the truth.”
Ready to take the next step in your nursing career? Learn more about UL Lafayette’s online RN to BSN program.
