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Brockton-born exercise science major Fabyanno Furbino was having second thoughts. “He mentioned to me that he had recently been thinking about a career in nursing,” recalls his advisor, Health and Fitness Studies Associate Professor Elizabeth Conant. Fabyanno was in her first year seminar course and she recalled thinking “he was a great leader and had a very promising future…but he was disappointed because he thought it was too late. I told him ‘No way!,’ and that, for a strong student like him, applying for acceptance into the program would be tough, but definitely still possible. He was thrilled.”
Fabyanno remembers that “she helped me figure out my skills and values and we both realized nursing would be a great fit.” He also was motivated by the experiences of a pair of aunts who were nurses in Brazil, where his parents were originally from. Fabyanno set up a meeting with Associate Dean of Pre Licensure Nursing Donna Glynn. “She was kind and compassionate and she made me feel eager to take on this new career I had ahead of me.”
Fabyanno found his clinical placement at Sturdy Memorial Hospital in Attleboro, Massachusetts “was amazing. I was given various tasks that required me to critically think in order to find the solution.” Today, he works there as a patient care assistant (PCA) but his long-term goal is to become a travelling nurse, a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) or a nurse practitioner (NP).
Professor Conant still recalls how excited Fabyanno was when he was accepted into the nursing program. “A year or so later, I remember seeing him on campus wearing his nursing scrubs,” she writes. “It was a proud moment for me as his former advisor; he put his mind to it, made it happen, and was on his way to becoming a registered nurse.”