Student takes advantage of dual credit opportunity through NICC

McKayla Stock’s strategy to gain a head start on her college education while still a student at Waukon High School was helped along by a strong concurrent enrollment agreement between her school and Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC).

Heaping portions of ambition, drive, compassion and the motivation to begin a career as a nurse also helped Stock to realize her dream. The 2014 Waukon High School graduate earned 33 dual enrollment college credits by the time she set foot on the NICC Calmar campus and, this May, completed an Associate Degree of Nursing.

Earning college credit while still a high school student and then enrolling at NICC after graduation made logical sense for several reasons, according to Stock. “Money was always a big issue for me, and by attending NICC I could live at home still. The Calmar campus is closer to home, NICC is inexpensive compared to other schools and class sizes were smaller,” Stock explained, who also received a Kibbie Grant, Pell grant and Dollars for Scholars funding to support her education. “I had a very good experience at NICC and with my nursing instructors. The staff are personally willing to help students and the first ones to reach out and say, ‘let’s get you the help you need.’”

During her time at NICC, Stock worked part-time as a Certified Nurse Aide at Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon and her health care role expanded at the hospital after completing an NICC Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) degree. As an LPN, Stock had received the training and education she needed to administer medication and injections to patients, complete patient assessments and communicate medical information between patients and their physicians. Stock envisions her nursing responsibilities growing as she continues her college education to fulfill a lifelong career ambition. The NICC graduate has nurtured a desire to become a Registered Nurse since she was a child.

“My grandmother battled cancer and died when I was five years old. I remember going to so many doctor’s visits with my mom – seeing nurses, observing what they do. Ever since that time, I have always had it in my blood to become a nurse,” she expressed.

The next step in her nursing education brings Stock to the campus of Upper Iowa University in Fayette this year.

“I definitely want to earn a bachelor’s of science in nursing degree from Upper Iowa University soon, and I will be enrolling this fall. I think I should continue my college education now, when I don’t have kids and am able to pay for classes on my own. After graduation from Upper Iowa, I plan to stay at the hospital. I love the atmosphere of the job,” she said.

The proximity of NICC and Upper Iowa University to her rural Waukon family farm helped to make her healthcare career dream come true, Stock expressed, who is a self-described ‘small-town girl.’

“NICC has made me realize that you can obtain the quality education you need from a community college, not only a large university. So many of my friends from high school wanted to go to college and ‘get out of Waukon.’ They ended up not liking their experience and transferring somewhere else. NICC is a very good school, without the big price tag,” Stock recalled.

McKayla Stock is the daughter of Kent and Rhonda Stock of Waukon. She has a younger sister, Bethany, who graduated this May from Waukon High School and is also planning to attend Upper Iowa University in the fall.

Many students, such as Stock, have an opportunity to earn college credits at Northeast Iowa Community College because of concurrent enrollment agreements established between their high schools and NICC. From 2015-2016, 126 high school students enrolled in 855 college credits at the NICC Waukon Center. In fact, 291 students and their families county-wide in Allamakee earned 2,620 college credits and saved an estimated $1,339,213 in tuition.