Like Mother, Like Daughter

Stacy Seabright ’98 has enjoyed a decades-long career in health care, the roots of which were planted when she was a teenager working in a nursing home.

Seabright, who earned an associate’s degree in nursing from Shenandoah University in 1998, speaks highly of her experience as a nurse throughout the years, saying that no career field can match the opportunities and benefits that nursing provides. 

Stacy’s daughter, Hayley Seabright, didn’t initially share her mother’s enthusiasm for the profession when she was younger, mostly because she clung to the notion that she didn’t want to be just like her mom. 

Now, the mother and daughter duo are both enrolled in Shenandoah’s Eleanor Wade Custer School of Nursing – Stacy to advance her career through the Master of Science in Nursing: Family Nurse Practitioner program and Hayley to build her foundation in the profession via the Bachelor of Science in Nursing transfer program.

Stacy is on track to graduate in December 2024, while Hayley will complete her BSN in December 2025.

Being a student at the same time as my daughter has actually worked to both our advantages. I love helping my daughter. We study pathophysiology, pharmacology, health assessment, and foundations, and this has really helped her and I both. I graduated from nursing school 25 years ago and sometimes we forget the fundamentals. Helping her is an advantage for myself and her, and I think that has really helped us both to be successful with our programs. I love telling Hayley about the different experiences that I have been a part of and I hope this will help her in the future with her nursing career. And we are having a lot of fun along the way.”

Stacy Seabright, student in Shenandoah University’s Master of Science: Family Nurse Practitioner program

Hayley added that sharing the SU nursing student experience with her mother has allowed them both to relate to each other.

One week, I am nervous, and the next she is. It gives us peace of mind when we study together because we become more knowledgeable about topics than we originally thought. I love that I can go to her with questions, and my mom seems so excited to answer them. Her stories that derive from each question allow me to remember and grasp what I am learning. I would definitely say she helps me a lot more at this point than I do for her, but I like to think I help refresh her pathophysiology knowledge!”

Hayley Seabright, SU Bachelor of Science in Nursing student

Stacy Seabright’s path to nursing began when she was a resident helper in a nursing home, making $4.25 an hour feeding residents, providing nail care, and performing various fun activities with them. When the nursing home offered Stacy a chance to become a certified nursing assistant, she took it, realizing that as a single mother, she needed to put herself on a path to a stable future for herself and her children. She eventually earned an associate’s degree in nursing from SU to kick off a 25-year career as a registered nurse with Inova Health System and Valley Health, during which she also completed her BSN at Eastern Mennonite University in 2010.

Despite her passion for nursing, Stacy began feeling the strain that the COVID-19 pandemic put on the health-care field and realized she wanted to go in another direction within the profession. Her children were no longer in high school, and Stacy knew it was time for her to go back to school.

Everyone I spoke to raved about SU’s FNP program and I never gave it a second thought, that’s where I was going to go. The program is beyond what I could have ever dreamed. The professors are very knowledgeable, but they are human, understand life, are so supportive, and they care.”

Stacy Seabright

Stacy’s positive experience in nursing prompted her to encourage Hayley to go to nursing school. She also believed so much in the “high-quality” education that the Eleanor Wade Custer School of Nursing offers that Shenandoah was the only school she and Hayley considered when Hayley decided to follow in her mother’s footsteps.

Hayley, whose desire to become a nurse was solidified when a close friend was involved in a fatal vehicle accident over the summer, said she began gravitating toward a career in nursing because of the multiple career options the profession offers. Shenandoah, she said, is preparing her to excel wherever she chooses to go in the field.

I want to be able to help as many people as I can and make an impact on people’s lives. I chose Shenandoah to pursue my BSN because I have heard nothing but great things from past students. This is a top-notch program with professors and faculty who are there to make you a great nurse, not just to prepare you to pass the classes. The last two months have allowed me to see this is the reality of the program – they want to help us be the most successful we can be.”

Hayley Seabright