I think 'second chances' is the story of my career journey.
This semester, BYU College of Nursing is welcoming Professor Scott Crepeau (BS ‘17) as a new full-time faculty member.
Professor Crepeau graduated from BYU College of Nursing with his bachelor's of science in nursing. He has since gone on to work in various units and further his education.
When not at work, he loves being outdoors on backpacking trips, fly fishing, and more.
THE PATH TO NURSING
Having finished his undergraduate degree less than a decade ago, Professor Crepeau experienced a very similar nursing curriculum to current BYU students.
“I feel like I still have a window into what they're currently going through,” he explained. “The same lecture they just sat through this morning is the same lecture that I had as a student…The same assignment that I did, they're doing [now].”
Professor Crepeau hopes that this shared experience can make him a resource for current cohorts.
Professor Crepeau’s personal journey to nursing was anything but direct. Upon enrolling at BYU, Professor Crepeau originally planned on a career in accounting—he’d received exposure to finances and bookkeeping on his mission in Manaus, Brazil and felt it was the path for him.
After the introductory courses, however, he realized his skills lay elsewhere. Nursing had been suggested to him earlier in life, but it was only then that he began to consider it seriously. He recalled one memory from his youth:
“I remember that, as a teenager, my mom came in one day and said to me, ‘You should be a nurse.’” I scoffed and responded, ‘You want me to be a male nurse?’”
Any reservations he may have had about the field began to disappear once his nursing classes began. He developed an affinity for nursing in the first intro class, and he hasn’t looked back since.
“I like the hands-on aspect of [nursing], and the relationships that we build with patients,” Crepeau said. ”I’ve loved the path I’ve taken.”
His degree led him to North Carolina where he worked in the cardiothoracic ICU step-down unit at the Duke University Hospital. He later returned to Utah to work in the emergency department at the University of Utah. While there, he earned his Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree in primary care.
Between graduating with his DNP and starting at BYU, he worked in pulmonology & sleep and urgent care as a nurse practitioner. He still sees patients one day per week.
TRY, TRY, AGAIN
Professor Crepeau also hopes that his career journey can help students internalize a very important truth: life is full of second chances and new opportunities.
Professor Crepeau is a champion of fresh starts. From applying twice to BYU, changing his career focus, then applying twice before acceptance to the nursing program, his resilience and ability to move through rejection have propelled him to his role as a full-time faculty member.
He hopes that his example can show students that through hard work and faith in the Lord, doors can be opened that might otherwise remain shut. In a culture of perfectionism and stress over grades, he hopes they can gain greater confidence in a bright future,
“The curse of comparison, it’s hard as a student and in every aspect of life,” he lamented. “Just because something doesn’t work out the first time, it doesn’t mean that path is closed to you.”
WHY TEACHING?
Professor Crepeau has fond memories of the professors he studied under at BYU. “Here on campus, as a student, I was just always super impressed with the faculty that were here,” he said. “A lot of them are still teaching here.”
He commented that he’d “always enjoyed teaching, [he] just never anticipated teaching.” Indeed, becoming a faculty member wasn’t on his radar until, in his words, his mind began "drifting back to BYU.”
One day during his practice, he was listening to a BYU devotional from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland’s address titled The Second Half of the Second Century of Brigham Young University.
“I just remember feeling really impressed that I should try to get into education,” Professor Crepeau remarked thoughtfully.
This semester, Professor Crepeau is teaching the NURS 471 Nursing Care of Adults in Crisis course. He will also be a leader on this year’s Global & Population Health Practicum project in Slovenia and Italy.
He noted that his door is always open for students wanting to talk.