UM Nursing Students Jump-Start Studies with Dual Enrollment Program

MISSOULA – As far back as grade school, Saidee Danyo remembers fielding the age-old question: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

She recalls patiently answering with whatever popped in her head, until one day, “I got so sick of adults asking, I just said I wanted to be a nurse,” Danyo recalled. “And the more I said it, the more I wanted to do it.”

Today, Danyo is studying to become a registered nurse at the University of Montana’s Missoula College, getting a jump-start on her studies through the college’s Dual Enrollment Program.

This rapidly growing program provides high school students with the opportunity to earn college credit through two avenues – in-class concurrent instruction from qualified high school teachers and the Early College program, which students can take online or at the UM, Missoula College and UM Bitterroot College campuses.

Danyo enrolled in the Early College program at 16 while attending Missoula Christian School. Sometimes, she said, she’d study at her desk in school, and sometimes she’d go to Missoula College.

By the time she started college full time, Danyo had completed her prerequisites including chemistry and microbiology.

“It’s kind of amazing what you can get done when you stay focused,” Danyo said.

While the program offers courses as wide ranging as American government and technical drafting, math and science courses are particularly popular with students interested in pursuing a nursing degree, said Jordan Patterson, director of the Dual Enrollment Program at Missoula College.

“Students who enroll in this program are often better prepared for college,” Patterson said. “This is particularly true for students, who like Saidee, can actually come to campus while in high school to take classes.”

For Montana high school students, the program is particularly advantageous, Patterson said, because those who live in-state get their first two classes free, with a tuition discount of 50% after that. Credits earned transfer to colleges in Montana and most out-of-state schools.

Missoula College’s Associate of Science Degree in nursing is a two-year program that prepares graduates to work with patients in a variety of health care settings. Employment rates upon graduation consistently hover around 100%, with the average salary topping $69,000.

“Students who take the prerequisite courses through Dual Enrollment are prepared and ready to apply to the nursing program much sooner than traditional nursing students,” said Maryann Dunbar, academic advisor at Missoula College. “That allows them to graduate and start working sooner.”

Many of the college’s graduates stay in Montana, which is critical to filling continued nursing shortages across the region’s health care providers, said Ginger Sillars, an associate professor and Health Profession Department chair at Missoula College.

“We strive to provide an education that fosters critical thinking and evidence-based practices while encouraging our students to assist in meeting the health care needs of our local community, state and beyond,” she said. “Many of our graduates stay here in Missoula or the surrounding communities helping to fill the need for more nurses.” 

Nursing student McKenzie Brownlee got in on the ground floor of the profession working as a housekeeper at a long-term care facility while attending Stevensville High School.

“It gave me a great perspective,” said Brownlee who, while still in high school, passed the state test needed to become a Certified Nursing Aide.

While in high school, Brownlee enrolled in the Dual Enrollment precalculus and statistics courses, which were taught at Stevensville High School by her high school mathematics teacher, Casey Ferguson.

“I am super glad I did it. It gave me a great prospective of what college would be like,” Brownlee said. “It’s good to be challenged and ready for the faster pace of study in college.”

Today, in addition to attending nursing classes, she works at Providence St. Patrick Hospital as a CNA and plans to eventually earn a bachelor’s degree in nursing.

“I get a big satisfaction out of helping people and bringing comfort to someone at their most vulnerable,” Brownlee said.

Danyo is contemplating her future in nursing, thinking that, like Brownlee, she will eventually go on to get her bachelor’s degree. Right now, she’s getting hands-on experience with a local home health care organization and will work at St. Patrick Hospital later in the summer.

“I thought for awhile that working in obstetrics would be cool,” Danyo said. “Now I am thinking about getting an assignment on a surgical floor because you get to work on everything.”

Danyo has this sage advice to other high school students thinking about signing up for Dual Enrollment:

“‘Do it now,” she said, “because life will only get that much more hectic.”

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Contact: Dave Kuntz, UM director of strategic communications, 406-243-5659, dave.kuntz@umontana.edu.