Through UMass-Lowell degree program, Zimbabwean student enhances experience

Stephanie Chalupka

The immigrant experience for registered nurse Ronald Wilson Makarutsa was challenging right from the start.

Makarutsa, one of three children born to an army officer and a banker, had always dreamed of coming to America. But he could never have dreamed of the experience that awaited him when he departed from Harare, Zimbabwe, on his way to the United States.

His flight stopped in London on Sept. 11, 2001.

Makarutsa and his fellow passengers were ordered off of their flight. American airspace had been closed, they were told.

With only $100 in his pocket and no friends or family in London, he slept in the airport until a young English couple that had heard about the hundreds of stranded passengers invited him to stay with them in their home. He did, for five days, before completing his journey.

Makarutsa always knew that he wanted to enter a profession that would enable him to serve others. He wanted to make an impact on people’s lives. Health care seemed the obvious choice, and the decision to enter nursing followed naturally. Following his dream, Makarutsa went on to study nursing at Middlesex Community College. After graduating in 2005, he went to work at a long-term care facility. Seeking an even greater professional challenge and opportunity, Makarutsa went on to work in the spinal cord injury unit of New England Rehabilitation Hospital in Woburn, Mass.

After Makarutsa graduated from Middlesex, he bought a home and brought his parents, Dominic and Verna, his brother, Lawrence, and sister, Tsungirai, to Massachusetts. Makarutsa’s goal was to eventually seek a bachelor’s degree in nursing. However, something happened that made him decide to return to school even sooner than he had planned: Upon applying for a position at a teaching hospital in Boston, Makarutsa was told by the nurse recruiter that he could not be hired without a B.S. degree.

Undeterred, Makarutsa resolved to seek the necessary educational preparation.

“I realized that knowledge is power. With my B.S. degree, it opens a whole lot of opportunities out there and it gives you more flexibility to move from one area of nursing to another,” says Makarutsa. “I have no monetary incentive for earning a B.S. degree, but I am doing this for my own personal growth, to improve my critical thinking skills and be able to advance to graduate school.”

Makarutsa chose the R.N. to B.S. Program at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell (UML) because of its reputation for academic excellence, the flexibility afforded to R.N. to B.S. students, and its generous financial aid program.

“My career at UML has been an enjoyable ride. The R.N. to B.S. Program faculty are skilled clinicians with a high degree of expertise in their respective areas,” says Makarutsa. “Of equal importance is the tremendous support that they provide to adult learners who are trying to balance the demands of work and family.”

While acknowledging that returning to school as a registered nurse seeking a B.S. degree is a challenging experience, Makarutsa strongly encourages others to embark on the same path.

“I would definitely encourage them. It might seem like a long road, but before you know it, you will be in your last semester and getting ready to be awarded your B.S. degree. It’s worth it,” he says. “The challenging work, in my opinion, assures the highest professional standards, and that’s what I was looking for.

Acknowledging that perseverance, determination and hard work are the ingredients to success, Makarutsa calls his return to school “a transformative experience,” both personally and professionally.

“I believe that I am much more well-prepared to face the challenges ahead — to advocate for patient safety and increased respect for the nursing profession, as well as important improvements in the work environment for nurses. All of these will be critical to address the rapidly worsening nursing shortage,” he says.

In recognition of his outstanding record of academic achievement at UML, Makarutsa will be inducted into Sigma Theta Tau, the national nursing honor society.

Makarutsa says he feels blessed to have achieved all that he has in such a short time, but credits the advice that his parents gave him when he left Zimbabwe.

“They told me that they were poor and … wouldn’t be able to help with tuition, but that I just had to go and work hard,” he says. “I took that advice and never looked back.”

He continues to look forward. After graduation from UML’s R.N. to B.S. Program in May, Makarutsa is to be married to his fiancée, Elma Chauke.

Stephanie Chalupka, Ed.D., A.P.R.N., B.C., C.N.S., F.A.A.O.H.N., is a professor in the Department of Nursing at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell.