A rejection letter isn’t typically the start of a college success story. But for Nicole David, the note she received denying her admission to nursing school started a decade-long journey of achieving her childhood dream of becoming a nurse.

David’s mother inspired her journey into a career of helping people. She was a nurse, which gave David a front-row seat to the intricacies of the nursing profession. “I saw how dedicated my mom was to caring for people and how happy it made her,” David recalled. “Because of that, I knew I wanted to work in health care.”

Initially, David thought her future in health care would be in dentistry. It was a field she considered after taking a health science technology course during her senior year of high school. After high school, she went to college, graduated and began applying to dental school.

Unfortunately, she faced rejection immediately. She didn’t have the grades to get into dental school.

“I went to college and dealt with some really hard things, which is why my grades suffered,” David explained. Her mother, the muse behind her health care journey, passed away during her freshman year of college.

After a tumultuous time, David reevaluated her career goal. She decided to pursue the dream she formulated as a child and follow in her mother’s footsteps to become a nurse.