Before she became a nurse, Tracy Larson envisioned a career as a teacher. After more than two decades of working in health care, she made that a reality — and now will share her passion at the Center for Career Services.

Ms. Larson has joined Southern Westchester BOCES as the instructor for the Nursing Assistant program, which is now in its third year since returning to Career Services in 2024.

The two-year program prepares students to sit for the New York State certification exam to become a Certified Nursing Assistant.

“These students can take their certificate in nursing assistant and really handpick exactly where they want to work, the population they want to work with, the hours they want to work,” Ms. Larson said. “The opportunities far outweigh the number of people that are trying to fill those positions.”

Larson became a nurse in 1992 and has career experience spanning hospitals, long-term care, home care, and school and camp nursing in both New York and Florida. She returned to school and earned an education degree in 2018. She since served as an educator at Dutchess and Capital Region BOCES before this position brought her to Westchester.

In this new role, she hopes to help students develop critical thinking, communication and professional skills while harnessing their empathy and compassion for patients.

“Those are skills I think we can model as teachers and nurse managers, but the students themselves have to also have that within them,” Ms. Larson said. “They have to want to be a healthcare worker to succeed.”

So far, Ms. Larson has been impressed with the students’ passion for learning.

“Everyone at the school has been really helpful and very kind, and the students have been ready to learn since day one,” she said. “They have come in very enthusiastic and have been eager to get started.”