Brandon Lynn '13

There's more than one path to a nursing career. For Brandon Lynn, it started in art class.

After graduating from the University of Michigan in 2007 with a bachelor's degree in art and design, Lynn worked as a graphic designer, doing illustration for children's books.

After a few years, he realized that he wanted a career that allowed him to help people and began to consider nursing. He always liked his chemistry and biology classes and his mom is in the nursing field.

So when Lynn's wife landed a job teaching kindergarten in Connecticut, he took the plunge and applied for Quinnipiac's accelerated bachelor of science program in nursing, which allows students who have a bachelor's degree in another field to graduate with a nursing degree in a short timeframe. Lynn started in the summer of 2012 and will graduate in May 2013.

Coming from a creative arts background, Lynn says he is accustomed to thinking there's more than one way to solve a problem. That mindset has helped ease the transition into a new academic field.

Lynn has also applied his artistic skills to studying. He makes colorful, intricately drawn flash cards as a study aid, which Lynn says help him think visually about the material.

He liked Quinnipiac's facilities on the North Haven Campus and connected with the program director, Professor Cory Boyd. "She's very invested in students and understands their experience," he said. "That spoke to me."

Lynn feels similarly about the entire nursing faculty. "Faculty members are really invested in students. They want you to do well," he says.

He has also found camaraderie among his fellow classmates in the program. "It's easy to jump in and get to know people," Lynn says.

Lynn likes the versatility that a nursing degree offers. While he's still deciding on which specialty to pursue after graduation, Lynn says he pictures himself in a hospital setting, possibly as a scrub nurse in the operating room. "I like the collaborative nature of the OR, where everyone is working together for one patient," he explains.

Lynn has no plans to abandon his creative pursuits after completing his nursing degree. "It's always been a dream of mine to publish my own children's book," he says.