Estrella Carretero fiddled with graduation stole in her hands while she waited for her name to be called.
Carretero was one of almost 30 nursing school graduates honored earlier this month by the University of North Texas. She and her classmates are the first group of nursing students to graduate from the UNT Health’s College of nursing program.
“I’m excited to step into the field and make a difference,” she said.
UNT Health started its nursing program back in 2023 to fill gaps in the healthcare workforce. State officials said more than 40 healthcare occupations are facing workforce shortages in Texas – with nursing having the highest demand.
By 2032, there will be a deficit of almost 60,000 nurses, based on projections from the Texas Hospital Association.
Carretero said it’s important to address the growing need for nurses because they play a critical role in patient care throughout the healthcare system.
“We are the people that are at the bedside the most with the patients,” Carretero said. “It’s great to see that 29 of us are graduating and will address some part of the shortage.”
Carretero walked across the stage in the middle of a lecture hall on the UNT Fort Worth Campus. Her mentor took the fabric sash in her hands and placed it over Carretero's shoulders before pulling her into a tight hug with whispered congratulations.
As Carretero walked back to her seat, she straightened out the small pin on the stole. The pin represents her transition from being a student into being a professional nurse.
She said she’s honored to be part of UNT Health first pinning ceremony.
After returning to her seat, Carretero wore a bright smile before her focus shifted to one of the other graduates – Alberthy Carretero, Estrella’s older brother.
A personal mission
Estrella said growing up she watched her parents struggle to understand what was happening during medical appointments because of language barriers. It’s why she wanted to go into healthcare.
“I want to be part of addressing those language disparities in healthcare and being able to make a family feel seen and comfortable,” she said, “and not just have an interpreter speaking to them but be able to make them feel good in a time where it may be their worst time that they're experiencing.”
Estrella isn’t trying to address the issue on her own, though.
Alberthy said addressing the healthcare needs of North Texas’ growing Spanish-speaking population is one of his biggest drivers.
“With all my patients, I see myself and my family,” Alberthy said. “It’s scary…being in a place where others don’t speak the same language as you, where miscommunications can lead to death, things like that.”
In October, both Carretero siblings will start their new jobs at Cook Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth – serving the community they grew up in.
“They’re just really gritty and inspiring students,” said Sandy Manoushagian, who works at Cook Children’s.
She was an instructor and mentor to both siblings while they were in the program. She said she can’t think of any better shoulders for future UNT nursing students to stand on.
“Anytime you step into something new…there is a lot of pressure,” Manoushagian said. “There’s a lot of expectation, and these two in particular just rose to that challenge.”
A family connection
Part of what prepared Estrella and Alberthy for the pressure of the program was the family history that led them to pursue nursing.
While Estrella always knew she wanted to work in healthcare, she said she wouldn’t have completed this program without her parents.
“Coming from a Hispanic background and immigrant parents – my dad’s been working since he was 12 years old,” Estrella said. “He used to pick crops and now he does roofing, so to see him come home drenched in sweat, and then my mom, she cleans houses. Just seeing how they once left their homeland to come here and give us a better opportunity, and now they’re seeing the fruit of the labor. I think that’s beautiful.”
Unlike his sister, Alberthy hadn’t planned on a career in healthcare. Growing up, he wanted to be an aerospace engineer so he could work on the jets he saw near the Lockheed Martin base.
But in 2016, their oldest sister, Brisa Carretero, died in a car accident – just a few months before she was set to start nursing school.
“That left me with a lot of emotions and grief and sadness that I wanted to turn into something good,” Alberthy said.
Almost exactly a decade later, he and Estrella completed the degree Brisa didn’t have the chance to start.
Estrella said part of what made nursing school so special for her was getting to complete the program alongside her brother. She said they were able to push each other to study and improve because they both knew they wanted to go further in their careers.
“He would always be clapping for me,” Estrella said. “I never noticed who wasn’t clapping for me because he’s always been such a strong shoulder for me to lean on…He would be there for me and likewise I would be that for him.”
Alberthy wiped away tears as he said he was happy to cheer her on.
“You get to choose who you marry, you know, your partner, this and that,” he said. “But you don’t get to choose to be a big brother…It’s just natural. It’s an instinct to want to see the people that you grew up with become professional and grow and learn and love and laugh and all that stuff.”
Part of something bigger
Rebecca Burns, associate dean of undergraduate nursing at UNT Health’s College of Nursing, was emotional thinking about how much the first class has grown and changed since they started back in 2023.
“They are holding themselves different,” she said. “They have a confidence that is just unmatched…These are not the same kids I knew just a few terms ago.”
Burns was one of the people involved in developing UNT’s nursing program. In addition to addressing workforce shortages, she said one of the goals of the program was to train higher-skilled nurses.
“They have to be competent before they leave here,” she said. “And boy, are we seeing the difference…[Our clinical partners] just grabbed our students up and they were placed in typically very hard new graduate positions to get, like in ICUs and NICUs and things like that.”
Sandy Manoushagian, Alberthy and Estrella’s mentor and instructor, said the siblings and their classmates are the face of the next generation of nurses, and they are “up to the task.”
“These are the change agents,” she said. “They are going to make tremendous contributions. Their impact is going to be monumental and I’m just so humbled and excited that I get to be on the sidelines.”
She said Alberthy and Estrella don’t take the responsibilities they carry as first-generation college students, nurses and role models lightly.
Alberthy said it’s a privilege to be a nurse.
“I hope that everyone that does want to go into nursing realizes that this is very serious, but at the same time very rewarding,” he said.
Abigail Ruhman is KERA’s health reporter. Got a tip? Email Abigail at aruhman@kera.org.
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