Family’s story comes full circle as mother, daughter graduate with nursing degrees

When Nancy Zabik (’25) and her daughter Autumn Zabik (’25) walked across the stage at Liberty University School of Nursing’s degree ceremony on Saturday afternoon, it was a shared moment of accomplishment. But it wasn’t the first time they had crossed a graduation stage together — 22 years ago, Nancy was 9 months pregnant with Autumn, on her due date, when she earned her associate degree in nursing.

Growing up, Autumn said she admired her mother, who is currently a pain management nurse in Michigan, and soon began to see nursing as her calling too. Her older sister Grace Culp (’22) is also a graduate of Liberty’s nursing program. Autumn completed the residential Bachelor of Science in Nursing: Pre-Licensure (BSN), and Nancy earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing for RNs: Post-Licensure through Liberty University Online Programs.

Not knowing they’d finish their respective programs at the same time until last year, the mother-daughter duo was happy to share the experience and recognize one another’s accomplishment during Commencement.

“I’m so proud of my daughter for doing this program with such grace and ease,” Nancy said. “I couldn’t be more proud of her. I have the privilege to walk across the stage with my daughter who already went across the stage with me before. It wasn’t my plan, but it was God’s plan. I feel so honored, and it is so rewarding.”

“It makes it that much more special to me and that much more exciting to do something like this with my mom,” Autumn added. “I know how hard she’s worked, and it’s so rewarding and special to see as a daughter.”

Nancy had earned her associate degree from another Christian college and said returning to study nursing through a Christian lens was a refreshing reminder.

“In the nursing field, you do get a very skewed worldview as time goes on, when you’re not constantly surrounded by that Christian worldview,” she said. “Having classes with the Christian worldview brought things back into perspective for me. That was a very welcomed breath of fresh air to see my work through a biblical perspective again.”

She said she appreciated the convenience and flexiblity of the online program. She took one class each term and was able to balance her education, her job, and roles as a wife and mother.

Autumn said she feels well prepared to follow in her mother’s footsteps.

“Liberty has a rigorous nursing program, and I feel like I am ahead of peers of mine who went to other nursing schools,” she said. “I’ve worked in the hospital back home for a couple years now, and I feel better prepared and more confident in my skills than the people that I work with who are also in nursing school.”

With nursing, the ability to be resilient is invaluable, and Autumn said her experience at Liberty has taught her how to lean on God when times are hard.

“My biggest takeaway in general from Liberty is the (knowledge) that the Lord will sustain me and that He will provide enough for me and more,” she said. “Throughout college, struggling with trying to juggle a job, being in nursing school, having friends and a social life, and everything else causes anxiety. But God has taught me for the past four years that He will sustain me, not only through college but for the rest of my life. I’ve been resting in that fact.”

Autumn said her professors explained and demonstrated the importance of being a nurse with a Christ-led mindset.

“Working with people who are sick and need help has really taught me how to be compassionate, and it has also taught me that while they need physical healing, they also need spiritual healing,” she said. “It is such a blessing to know that I can tend to their physical needs, just like any other nurse in the hospital, but that God has placed me there specifically and only I can tend to their spiritual needs as He’s intended me to. Hopefully my patients will see Christ through me.”