Mark Maeder

Student

Mark Maeder smiling

Bay College junior Mark Maeder wasn’t always a nursing major – he changed his major in response to an event in his family life. Mark said he has been doing well in his new field of choice so far.

Mark went to high school at Escanaba Senior High School and graduated in 2018. He chose to start his college education at Bay in order to save as much as possible while he figured out what he wanted to do with his life.

“I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do yet, so I didn’t want to spend a lot of money at a university,” he said.

In the fall 2018 semester, Mark started taking classes at Bay. At first, he was majoring in pre-medicine; however, his plans changed before his first semester at Bay ended.

“My son had surgery on his back when he was six months old. When I was down in Milwaukee for two weeks, I was able to watch the intensive care nurses down there and it was pretty awesome, what they did,” he said.

Mark applied for Bay’s nursing program before he left Milwaukee, and he hasn’t looked back since.

“It’s definitely not easy, but it’s doable and there’s a lot of great teachers there,” he said.

According to Mark, the COVID-19 pandemic has made some parts of his college education more difficult – especially regarding lab work.

“It’s been pretty tough, not being able to get that side of things as much,” he said.

While some of his labs have been moved online or cut short, he noted he has still been able to complete some labs during the pandemic.

Mark also gave his thanks to the people working at Bay for doing everything they can to keep things running smoothly at the college despite the impact of COVID-19.

“I appreciate all the faculty – what they do to accommodate as much as possible,” he said.

Currently, Mark plans to graduate from Bay after completing the winter 2021 semester.

“I’m excited for May, to be done and start working,” he said.

He is also hoping to complete his bachelor’s degree and apply to graduate school in the future. While he is unsure what school he will work to get his four-year degree at, he will likely once again search for the best value available.

“For grad school, I’d like to go through some sort of doctorate nurse practitioner program,” Mark said.

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