From EMT to RN: Sharandy Osei-Tutu’s Journey

Sharandy Osei-Tutu has been surrounded by nursing and health care professionals for most of her life. Her mother was a home health aide, her sister is a nurse, her brother went to nursing school and several of her aunts are also nurses. When it came time for her to decide on a career for herself, she didn't want to be a cliche, so she decided to try something a little different. After graduating from high school, Sharandy took an EMT course to see if health care was the right place for her, and that led to almost 10 years working as an EMT in an emergency room while also operating her own bridal makeup business on the side. Now, she has decided she wants to continue her family’s legacy. Sharandy is a second-year Nursing student at Community College of Philadelphia, with an anticipated graduation date of May 2027.

“I wanted to expand my education, take on more responsibility, learn more, be able to do more for my patients,” Sharandy said. “So, I decided to go back to become a nurse.” When she first decided to go to college, Sharandy felt apprehensive about enrolling as an adult student. She was 25 years old when she started at CCP. “...I think I was very overwhelmed and the idea of going back to school was very daunting for me,” she said. “...The first day I started, I just felt like, ‘oh, okay, I can do this.’ You look around and you see people who look like you, where, you know, might that be race, gender, age, and people even older than me.”

One of Sharandy’s favorite parts of CCP is how accessible education is here, especially with the number of scholarship opportunities that exist for students. Earlier this year, Sharandy was awarded the IBX Foundation Nurses for Tomorrow® Scholarship, a program that was started to help combat the nursing shortage. “I was looking through my tuition portal...[and] it was like, ‘oh, you have this credit for this amount of money.’ And I was like, ‘oh, I got the scholarship. That's great!’” For most students, every little bit of financial assistance helps.

After being awarded the scholarship, Sharandy was invited to a luncheon with members of IBX Foundation’s staff and other students who received the same scholarship. During the lunch event, Sharandy struck up a conversation with a member of the IBX Foundation team, which eventually led to the organization inviting her to participate in their Making Change Happen mini docuseries. “I was really shocked, and I was like, ‘oh, little me,’” Sharandy said.

“I felt [like] myself, you know, they didn't want me to perform really...CCP is about regular people...so I felt like it was sort of an opportunity to tell the story of a lot of nursing students and students in general who are just trying to figure it out,” Sharandy said. Sharandy was grateful for the opportunity to share her story because it is representative of so many other students’ stories at the College.   

After graduating from the College, Sharandy hopes to continue her education in a bachelor of Nursing program and eventually pursue a master’s degree as well. Her ultimate goal is to work in health care administration but is also interested in exploring a teaching role with the hopes of one day returning to CCP. Looking back on her early memories of the College, Sharandy thinks fondly. “It was inspiring,” she said. “I think that's why CCP is special to me, because I'm inspired when I look around.”

You can learn more about CCP’s Nursing program online at ccp.edu/nursing.