I graduated from East Providence High School in 1981 and from New England Baptist Hospital School of Nursing, Boston, in 1984. I earned a BSN from UMass-Amherst in 1993 and an MS from UMass-Amherst in 1996. I became an ANCC Board Certified Family Nurse Practitioner 1996.I worked 25 years as an RN/NP. Throughout my career I have educated all levels of health care providers: paramedics, new employees, employees, and nursing students AD/BSN/MSN. Academic achievement is not always a predictor o.