“Success doesn’t have an expiration date:” How one Loyalist nursing student is rewriting her story 

At 32 years old, Jessica Noseworthy packed up the life she’d built in downtown Toronto, left her full-time job and moved to Belleville to attend Loyalist College. 
Returning to school meant confronting doubts she’d carried for years. “I wasn’t sure I was ready, but I wanted to try. I thought, ‘Let’s see if I can do this.’” 

More than a decade earlier, Jessica had enrolled in a nursing program in Toronto straight out of high school, but within weeks, she’d left.  

“Back then, I wasn’t prepared,” she explains. “It was the first time I’d ever had to apply myself academically, and I found it overwhelming.” 

Today, Jessica’s story looks very different. She is entering her second year of Loyalist’s highly competitive Bachelor of Science in Nursing program after completing the college’s Pre-Health Sciences Pathway to Advanced Diplomas and Degrees program. She was recognized with a Student Leadership Award and has become a familiar and welcoming face for other students at Loyalist’s Tsi Titewaya’taró:roks Indigenous Centre. Along the way, she discovered something important:  

“Success doesn’t have an expiration date,” she says. “You can rewrite your story at any time.” 

Finding her way back 

Growing up in a family of nurses, Jessica always imagined a career in health care.  

When she dropped out of her first attempt at post-secondary education, she felt like a failure. For years, she carried that feeling with her, struggling with addiction and mental health. 

Everything began to change when she started her sobriety journey. 

As she rebuilt her life, Jessica found work with a nonprofit organization that provided doula support, eventually becoming a doula herself. Supporting people through pregnancy and birth rekindled the passion for health care she’d left behind. 

“I loved supporting people in vulnerable and transformative moments,” she says. “Working as a doula renewed my passion for health care, and showed me the importance of advocacy and compassionate, person-centred care.” 

For Jessica, who is Mi’kmaq, working alongside mentors who championed equity and advocacy also deepened her desire to use her voice to support others, particularly Indigenous people and communities whose perspectives are often overlooked. 

As her experience grew, so did her desire to complete her education. “Once I got sober, it gave me the opportunity to refocus my path. It gave me the space to ask, what’s next for my career?” 

Building confidence one step at a time 

Jessica enrolled in Loyalist’s Pre-Health Sciences Pathway to Advanced Diplomas and Degrees – a one-year program that helps students strengthen their science background, take prerequisite courses and prepare for admission to health care programs. 

“I’d been out of school for more than 10 years, so I didn’t go into the program thinking I was going to be a straight A student,” she says. “But I worked hard, I treated the pre-health program like a job, and I ended up doing really well.” 

Beyond earning a place on the Dean’s List, Jessica found a close-knit campus community, building relationships with classmates, professors and staff who knew her and wanted her to succeed. 
 
“People know me by name here,” she says. “Loyalist is an incredibly supportive environment.” 

A place to belong 

After completing Pre-Health, Jessica chose to continue her studies in Loyalist’s Honours Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. Despite offers from other schools, she had found a community at Loyalist she didn’t want to leave behind. 

“Loyalist’s Indigenous Centre has become a place where I can connect with my culture and community and feel like I belong,” she says. 

Today, she works in the Centre as a student employee, helping to organize activities and welcome new students. “Being able to create that same supportive space for other students has been really meaningful.” 

Rewriting the story 

Jessica’s path to nursing took longer than she once expected. Now, she sees the experiences she gained along the way as part of what prepared her to succeed. 

For other adults considering a return to school, Jessica’s advice is simple. 

“My life experience is what makes me successful today,” she says. “I’d tell anyone who’s thinking about going back to school to just start. Even if you don’t feel ready. The confidence will come.”