Sydney Webb has always wanted to be a nurse.
"I remember being five and telling my doctor that I wanted to be a baby nurse, and nothing's really changed," she said.
The senior Methodist College student is just a couple months away from earning her bachelor's degree in nursing and starting her dream career. Among those who have supported her along the way is Webb's great-grandmother, Marcille Frevert.
Frevert graduated from Methodist College in 1950 and dove immediately into a 40-year nursing career. She had always hoped that her family might follow in her footsteps, but her daughters took different paths. Her granddaughter didn't take up the career, either.
"When down the line with her, with Sydney, why, I didn't say anything about it. I don't remember how it all came about either. She told me that she was interested in it," Frevert said. "So I was tickled to death that somebody was interested in it, because I enjoyed it so much. So I'm real proud of her."
Frevert has a lot of stories from her long nursing career, and she's told many of them to Webb over the years. Some are funny, and others are poignant. One that sticks out harkens back to her days training at the Peoria State Hospital in Bartonville. One of the doctors there was a survivor of a concentration camp, and he made an impression despite a language barrier.
"Different times when he was talking, you could see tears in his eyes, and then when he was done, like he just excused himself, and that was it. But you know, it was really something to see a survivor," she said.
A lot has changed a lot since Frevert was in school. Methodist College today has a high-tech clinical practice center for students to hone their abilities at everything from inserting an IV to assisting a mother in labor who's going into a seizure.
"We can go in there on our own time, or schedule practices, where the nurse who works in there watches us practice, and gives us corrections and critiques us, and that helps us become better," Webb said.
Dr. Blanca Miller is dean of nursing at Methodist College. She said there's about 275 students currently. She said one benefit of a nursing career is that a job will always be available.
"There's just so many opportunities. You can work in primary care. You can work in acute care settings. There's just so many opportunities for for those that are going to go into nursing," Miller said.
Methodist College turns 125 years old this year. Frevert said the career has changed over the decades, but she still recommends it.
"We thought it was hard, but I know it's a lot harder today," said Frevert. "But with all this technology and things they have to help have them. But basically, in the end, why, you get the same end result, but they just go at it differently. I think it's a marvelous profession for anybody to go into I've never regretted it."
