Joseph Green’s Journey from Farm to Bedside
By Rebecca Jamieson
Joseph Green x’25 grew up in Monroe, Wisconsin, and fell in love with nursing during an anatomy and physiology class in his sophomore year of high school. “The human body is so amazing,” he says. “Being able to understand disease processes and how we can help people through chronic conditions is just so cool to me. The more I learned about the profession, the more I loved it.”
Green always knew he wanted to go to UW–Madison. “I always had a dream of going to UW. It’s a very special place. No other campus is like it,” he says. When his family moved to Alabama in 2015, he still spent summers in Wisconsin helping on his grandparents’ farm and planned to move back after high school.
“I graduated high school in 2020, and things were very chaotic,” Green remembers. He wanted to go to college eventually but didn’t qualify for most financial aid. “I have three younger siblings, so my parents couldn’t afford to send me to school, but I didn’t have any savings whatsoever,” he says. “I was kind of stuck.”
Green returned to Wisconsin after graduation to help his grandparents on the farm during the COVID-19 pandemic. But he hadn’t given up his dream of going to nursing school. In 2021, he applied to UW–Madison. “It was the only school I applied to,” he says. “It was a shot in the dark, but I got in!” Once in school, Green studied hard. “I put my nose to the grindstone during my first two years to give myself the best shot of getting into nursing school.”
He paid for school by taking out loans and working at the UW Livestock Lab and his grandparents’ farm. “I worked a lot,” he says. “It was definitely touch and go financially. I couldn’t focus as much on school because I had to work.”
So when he was awarded two scholarships from the School of Nursing, it changed everything. “Getting these scholarships means that I don’t have to work 30 hours a week on top of studying and going to school. This year for clinicals I’m on site from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. It would be very hard to work on top of that.”
Not having to work as much gave Green the opportunity to do a nursing externship last summer. He worked the night shift on a medical surgical unit where he developed valuable nursing skills. “I absolutely loved it,” he smiles.
During the school year, Green works just a few hours a week as a nursing assistant in an ICU in Madison, which allows him to gain skills while still focusing on his classes. “I couldn’t become a CNA before nursing school because I had to work on the farm,” Green says. “These scholarships have allowed me to gain a lot of experiences that will really benefit me as a nurse.”
After graduating this spring, Green will work on the medical surgical unit where he landed a job after his externship. Helping people during the toughest moments of their lives is important to him. “I know it’s going to be hard, but I’m not trying to take the easy way out,” he says.
Green’s advice for those considering a BSN is to study hard during the prerequisites and develop skills through extracurricular activities. “It also never hurts to just be nice and do your homework,” he says with a grin. “It’s surprising how far that’ll get you.” But it’s not just about hard work. “Reach for the stars a little bit too,” he advises. “Try something different that’s outside your comfort zone.”
When he thinks about how he wants to transform the future, Green’s passion lies in caring for patients. “I love being around people,” he says. “I spent so much time on the farm being around no one, so I love the patient-facing side of nursing.”
Green eventually plans to move back to Monroe because he wants to serve the community he’s from. With Wisconsin facing a nursing shortage, especially acute in rural areas, the state needs students like Green now more than ever. “I could have chosen to go anywhere in the country, but I want to be a nurse in Wisconsin. I have family here and I love the people.”