Brianna Rinehart’s favorite thing about her job as a nurse is serving as her patients’ support system. She works in a long-term care facility with people rehabilitating from strokes, falls and other accidents. Not every patient has family who can be there for them, but that’s where Brianna steps in.
“As they’re trying to get stronger and better, you need a good support system,” she said. “Being able to be that for them—that gives me satisfaction that I helped somebody. … I didn’t have a good support system growing up, so I knew that I wanted to be that for somebody else.”
Since she was 13 years old, Brianna has wanted to be a nurse. The road to get there was difficult, though, and she needed some help along the way. A complicated relationship with her parents left her homeless at 18, but her boyfriend and his mother welcomed her into their home. Brianna has a close relationship with her boyfriend’s mom to this day, partly because of the tough love she provided Brianna during a difficult time. She let Brianna live with her, yes; but she also encouraged her to figure out how to support herself in life.
Brianna started working hard to get her feet back under herself. She got a job, saved money and worked on getting her high school diploma. Her learning disability made studying on her own difficult, though.
Her boyfriend’s older brother had gone to Job Corps a few years prior, and he told her about all the good things the program had done for him. Brianna would have a place to live, meals to eat and be able to get the credentials she needed to pursue her goal of becoming a nurse—all at no cost to her. She spoke to an admissions counselor who told her about the Licensed Practical Nurse Advanced Training program, and that was it.
“I said, ‘OK, that’s what I want to do,’” Brianna said. “I was dead set. Nothing and nobody was going to change my mind. I was going to do whatever I had to do to make sure that I got in.” 
In 2019, she brought that determination to campus with her at Keystone Job Corps Center in Pennsylvania. The Certified Nurse Assistant program was rigorous, and Brianna’s learning disability didn’t make it any easier. The center staff honored the individualized education program (IEP) she had in grade school and gave her as much support as she needed to succeed, whether it was an RA quizzing her with flashcards or her instructors staying after class to review the day’s material one more time.
All her hard work paid off. Brianna ended up the top student in her CNA class and was accepted to the advanced training program at Cassadaga Job Corps. The COVID-19 pandemic brought new challenges for Brianna and her fellow LPN students, but Brianna didn’t let any of it discourage her. She still studied just as hard and graduated in 2021.
Brianna says that she couldn’t have done any of it without everyone who supported her, from her boyfriend and his mom to the center staff who worked to accommodate her learning needs. Thanks to her new career and lack of student loan debt, Brianna and her boyfriend were able to buy their first home together. She even convinced her boyfriend’s cousin to enroll in Job Corps!
“As long as you’re serious about the program, it can do amazing things for you,” Brianna said. “It did for me. Job Corps will help you in so many ways.”
Graduated from Job Corps in: August, 2021 Hometown: Warminster, Pennsylvania Phone: 267-699-6068 Submitted by: Hannah Purdy Notes:
Source: Dayna D. Schultz, Career Transition Manager, Cassadaga Job Corps, Schultz.dayna@jobcorps.org, 716-595-4274, 716-272-9888
Current employment: working as a licensed practical nurse