Many high schoolers aren’t sure what they want to be when they grow up. Traci Newcomer, a fourth-semester instructor in the Nursing Program, was one of those.

When Traci was 19, she started working in an elderly group home, and it was then that she decided she wanted to become a nurse. She discovered that she loved teaching when orienting new employees and precepting nursing students.

A graduate of BTC in 2004, Traci completed her bachelor’s in nursing in 2012 and her master’s in nursing in 2016, both from Grand Canyon University. She started as an adjunct instructor at BTC in Spring 2016 and has been full-time since Fall 2017.

Traci has always loved helping people, which is something that drew her to nursing.

“I love the unique complexity of caring for individuals,” she said. “Most of my career has been working in Intensive Care. I loved the challenge that each shift brought.”

The healthcare industry is an arena that has seen seismic shifts over the last couple of decades, especially when it comes to technology. Traci credits those technological advancements for improving procedures to be less invasive, creating shorter hospital stays which leads to shorter recovery times for patients and improves the overall quality of life.

Those improvements, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, which reared its ugly head in March 2020, have led to myriad changes in the classroom.

“The last two years we have made rapid changes in course delivery to utilizing more technology in the classroom,” she said. “We have been able to deliver our standard of high-quality education in these challenging times.”

Transitioning students from hands-on clinical courses to a virtual world of simulation was one of the many challenges that were faced. Adjusting the theory courses to online was easier than replacing the hands-on patient care experiences.

“I am so happy we have great community partners in Rock and Green counties that support our students and are providing those invaluable hands-on experiences,” she said.

Traci finds nursing to be a rewarding career in more ways than she can describe, though it’s safe to say it’s not for everyone.

“Nursing school is hard because being a nurse is hard. I loved what I did at the bedside and I love teaching,” she said.

One thing that can’t be taught that Traci hopes her students walk away from her class with is confidence, which is something she hopes she has helped to build in each one of her students.

Having that sense of confidence can benefit a nursing student because things in the field tend to happen quickly.

“I tell my students that nurses make their jobs look deceptively easy because you cannot see all of the critical thinking that happens before every task they complete,” she said. “When watching a nurse, you see the final product of all of that critical knowledge they carry.”

When Traci is away from the classroom, she and her husband of over 20 years like to camp, garden and travel. They have two children, a 15-year-old son and a 19-year-old daughter, who will begin the BTC nursing program in August. They also have two cats, Cheeks and Tricia, and a yellow lab named Cody.

National Nurses Day is observed May 6, with National Nurses Week observed from that day through May 12.