04/22/2025
Good morning! My name is April Lawrence, and I’m doing today’s social media takeover (follow our stories today). I am currently in my second semester (junior year) of the nursing program at Minot State University. I serve on the NSAND board as the secretary.
I was born and raised in upstate NY in the small town of Johnson City. I grew up as the oldest of 5 children, and my youngest sibling and I are 18 years apart. I moved to Minot in February of 2023 with my husband and 2 boys (ages 15 and 8) when my husband got stationed at Minot Air Force Base. Before living in North Dakota, we live in Japan just outside of Tokyo, New Jersey, Delaware, and North Carolina.
I am a non-traditional student, as you can probably tell by the fact that I am married and have 2 kids, one of which will start college in the next few years. I am also class mom to my 22 classmates lol! Being in nursing school, being a mom, and working is always a fun and interesting challenge, especially because my husband travels a lot with his job.
I joined the NSAND board because I wanted the opportunity not only to be able to network with other nursing students and professionals across the state, but also grow my leadership skills as well. I also am involved in my local NSA, where I serve as one of the Breakthrough to Nursing directors. That is pretty fun because I get to go out into the community and talk to high school students about MSUs amazing nursing program as well as about becoming a nurse.
When I graduate, as of right now, my goal is to work in emergency/trauma medicine because I really like the idea of something new and challenging each day. I have worked in the past as an EMT and that is where my passion for emergency medicine started. With that being said, I am also keeping an open mind as I work through my clinical experiences because I might find a passion elsewhere.
A fun fact about me is that when I lived in Japan, I helped create, and played on a roller derby team. It is probably one of the most fun hobbies I have ever had, and when I live closer to a team again, I do plan on picking that hobby back up.