Trayce Lamar has her sights set on a nursing career. She wants  to become an acute-care pediatric nurse practitioner and work with children who have cancer.

That goal may seem like a longshot for someone who is only in her third semester at Clayton State University, and has yet to be accepted into the nursing program, but Lamar has high expectations.

“I’ve always been a good student and that’s no accident,” Lamar said. “My mom expected a lot from me growing up. I think expectations make a difference.”

Lamar draws inspiration from nurses who have touched her life for as long as she can remember.

“My three aunts, my grandmother, my godmother and some of my mom’s friends are all nurses, and they were also a huge inspiration,” she said. “I had thought I wanted to be a pediatrician when I was younger, but I realized that it was the nurse practitioner and nurse at my doctor’s office who really knew me. That kind of nurturing hands-on care is what I want to do.”

That she chose to attend Clayton State to pursue her dream is no accident. The college has felt like home since she was in the seventh grade.

“My older sister was dual-enrolled here in her senior year of high school. Since I was home-schooled, my mom and I would bring her to class and I’d study at the Center for Academic Success and the Baker University Center on campus,” she said.

Lamar, who graduated from Heritage Classical Study Center in Snellville last May, was in the dual-enrollment program at Clayton State during her senior year.

“I was taking five high school courses and four college courses in one semester. I told my mom that if I could do that, I felt like I could do anything,” she said.

As a dual-enrollment student, she was selected for Alpha Lambda Delta, a national honor society that recognizes and encourages college freshman who earn grade-point averages of 3.5 or higher.

Attending a summer camp sponsored by Clayton State’s nursing department in 2011 solidified Lamar’s decision to study nursing.

“We were there for a week and got CPR- and AED-certified,” she said.

Lamar learned some basic nursing skills from nursing students and professors, and heard about the many specializations and opportunities in the nursing field. Hearing from a nursing recruiter that Clayton State had a good reputation , Lamar decided to attend the school. Because she couldn’t afford the cost of room and board, Lamar figured she would be a commuter student.

“But then I heard about the Presidential Scholarship program, so I worked on the application,” she said.

When she got the news that she had earned a scholarship , she thought the caller was joking at first. “Then I was running all over the house, freaking out and yelling, 'I got it, I got it.’ ”
Lamar, one of six Presidential Scholars at Clayton State for 2012-13, will receive tuition, room and board, and a book allowance for four years.

 Lamar is taking nursing prerequisites and classes toward a second degree in health care management and a minor in Spanish.

“When I volunteered at CHOA [Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta] one summer, I worked the activities cart and got to play with children in the waiting rooms,” she said. “I noticed that the Spanish interpreter looked really busy and burned out. I decided to minor in Spanish so that I could talk to my patients directly without an interpreter.”

She’s working toward being accepted into the nursing program and hopes to complete most of her health care management courses before starting the nursing curriculum.

“I’m taking anatomy and physiology, and that class is no joke. I took AP biology in high school, but the pace here is much faster and a lot more intense. Fortunately, I like a challenge,” she said.