by Aimee LaBrie
For over 20 years, Christina Jasinski-Lackey, RN, CHPN, has worked in the I.C.U. at Somerset Medical Center (now part of Robert Wood Johnson Hospital), first as a secretary and then, after taking her nursing classes at Raritan Valley Community College, as a registered nurse. In that role, she saw much suffering, both for patients and their families. Lackey felt she wanted to find another way to care for her patients. Three years ago, she left the I.C.U. to take on a role in palliative care that she herself developed. "Palliative care is not just about end of life but also about providing quality of life for however long a terminally ill patient has. You work with the family and the patient and meet them wherever they are at in the process," she explains. "It's emotional and challenging, but that's part of what I love about it."
Lackey made another significant change in 2013: She decided to return to Rider University to earn her Bachelor of Science in Nursing. She had started her studies at Rider in 1988 and completed two full years of classes before meeting her husband, Charles Lackey, also a Rider student, a track star and one of the first athletes to be named to the new Rider Hall of Fame. Though she was doing well in her career as an RN, she felt as though part of her life was unresolved. When she saw a financial aid letter from Rider addressed to her son Atreju (who was a Rider student at the time), she also noticed a new degree — Bachelor of Science in Nursing that was taught largely online. "I called immediately and said, 'Please tell me more.'" She applied and was accepted.
The online components are ideal for a full-time nurse like Lackey, allowing her to continue to work and study on her own time. Having two years of Rider already completed allowed her to skip her core classes, and she has found the staff to be very supportive. "Sean Levin in the College of Continuing Studies has been excellent," she says. "I went in to see him, and we mapped out how it was going to go. I like the online classes. I'm a very task-oriented person and so I enjoy the structure they provide." She also credits Dr. Rosemary Fliszar for all of her help and support as the head of the nursing department at Rider. "Both of them have been tremendously helpful to me."
As she was beginning her online classes, her oldest son, Atreju, who double majored in biology and chemistry, graduated from Rider. The next year, he started his Ph.D. program in nutritional biochemistry at Rutgers. "It's hard work, but he's very smart," she says. "He's a science guy."
This May, she will earn her diploma alongside her youngest son, Andre, who also came to Rider to major in public relations. Andre has been on the Dean's list several times as an undergraduate and plans to pursue law school when he graduates. While at the University, both of her sons have earned Provost Scholarships for their stellar academics.
When asked how it is that Rider attracted her entire family, Lackey knew the answer right away. "We always had the boys at Rider, for Family Weekend, or even more recently, for the Legacy Breakfast," she says. "They grew up with Rider, and so it was like a second home for them. I loved Rider when I was a student initially and I always regretted that I didn't finish. Now, it's come full circle. I'm proud of myself, and proud to soon be a Rider graduate...finally."
