Client Success
   Erica Bellis
   Cara Kettler & Aaron Daniel
   David LaChance
   Janet Poweski

Ericka Bellis

Ericka Bellis, 25, graduated from the University at Buffalo in 2004, with a BS in Chemistry, the program she had entered with the intention of following a career in forensic science. Ericka had vowed that she would never be a nurse and follow the career of her mother, Eva Bellis, Director of Health Checkpoint at the University of Rochester, School of Nursing.

By graduation, Ericka had changed her mind. She found the strong demand for nurses very compelling, and decided to combine her chemistry background with nursing, in a career as a nurse anesthetist, which requires completion of a Master of Science, Nurse Anesthetist degree. First, however, she had to earn a BS in Nursing.

Ericka decided on the Accelerated Bachelor's Program for Non-Nurses at the University of Rochester School of Nursing, as the first step on her ambitious career plan. She began work at the pharmacy at Strong Memorial Hospital, and used the Edvantage FastTrack Program of online learning to complete the prerequisites for the Accelerated Program. In the summer of 2005, she completed Introduction to Microbiology and Anatomy and Physiology I & II; in the fall she completed Growth and Development Through the Life Span, and by spring was done with Nutrition and Health. “The FastTrack program was great”, she says, “It allowed me the flexibility to work at my own pace, while working full time in a demanding job. I would certainly recommend it to anyone.”

Ericka began the full-time Accelerated Bachelor’s Program in the summer of 2006, and completed it in May 2007. She is starting her nursing career in Surgical Intensive Care at Strong Memorial Hospital, and expects to build on that experience by starting graduate school in two or three years.